Indian plot to embroil Pakistan in another false-flag operation busted
Pakistani fisherman coerced into carrying out tasks for Indian intel agency arrested: Atta Tarar
Islamabad: Federal Minister for Information Atta Tarar has said that India has not forgotten its defeat on the battlefield and after the failure of Operation Sindoor, it has started a malicious campaign of misinformation and disinformation, while the pliant Indian media is busy spreading false narratives.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Attaullah Tarar addressing a press conference in Islamabad alongside Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhary, said a fisherman from Pakistan was arrested by the Indian coast guard and was coerced into carrying out tasks for the neighbouring country’s intelligence agency.
He said that law enforcement agencies had recently apprehended a fisherman called Ijaz Mallah, who used to go fishing in the high seas. “In September this year, when he was out fishing, he was arrested by the Indian coast guard and after this arrest, he was taken to an undisclosed location and was coerced and forced to do some tasks for the Indian intelligence agency,” he said.
“He was told that he would be compensated and if he did not comply, he would have to stay imprisoned for two to three years,” the minister said.
“So this common fisherman was eventually released by the Indian intelligence agency and was sent to Pakistan on a task to procure certain things … which included uniforms of the Pakistan Navy, the Pakistan Army and of Sindh Rangers,” he added.
“He was tasked to procure uniforms with certain name tags, and certain fittings and measurements because this was part of a bigger plan of the Indian intelligence agency to launch a propaganda warfare against Pakistan,” Tarar said, showing pictures of items allegedly recovered from the fisherman on a screen off to the side.
The minister said that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies were well-equipped to deal with any situation, and put the fisherman in question under surveillance when he tried to procure the items.
“While he was under surveillance, our law enforcement agencies were fully alert and following his trail. He was also asked to get Pakistani currency, cigarettes, match boxes, lighters and was asked to specifically procure Zong SIM cards,” he said.
“He procured all these items and he was on his way to India when law enforcement agencies apprehended him from the sea, arrested him and took these items into custody,” the minister said.
“This is part of a greater plan by India to malign Pakistan and to use such propaganda items and disinformation and misinformation, and we have been very active countering the misinformation and disinformation by the Indian media and Indian state,” he said.
“Now this is a glaring example of the extent the Indian state is going to malign Pakistan because they are not able to digest the successes of Pakistan,” he said.
“So this is the kind of propaganda warfare that they resort to, and detailed investigations have been carried out,” he said, adding that Mallah had also confessed to his crimes.
The minister then proceeded to play a purported video of the fisherman, in which the man said he was apprehended by the Indian coast guards when he went fishing in August this year.
In the video, the man, identified as Ijaz Mallah, detailed that he hailed from the Shah Bandar taluka of Sindh’s Thatta district, with fishing being a family profession.
“After catching me, they (Indian coast guards) took me to a jail in an undisclosed location, where I was interrogated by an Indian secret agency’s official,” he said.
The man added that the Indian official told him he could face two to three years in jail for the offence he was held. “He (the official) told me that if I worked for them, then they could let me go,” Mallah said.
“He also offered me money and gifts, so due to the fear of jail and for the reward, I accepted the offer … then he told me to bring so and so items, some uniforms of Rangers, coast guard, the navy and the army,” he added.
