Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Saturday that 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.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad alongside Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhary, he said that Indian media was creating a false narrative in the aftermath of the four-day May conflict with Pakistan.
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 he was coerced and forced to 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,” he 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,” the minister.
“He was tasked to procure uniforms with certain nametags, 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,” he said, showing the items the fisherman was asked to obtain 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,” Tarar 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 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 video of the fisherman, in which the man said that in August 2025 he was apprehended by the Indian coast guard when he went fishing.
More to follow
