RAWALPINDI: Pakistan’s military on Thursday sought to debunk an Indian claim linking a former Pakistani soldier to a militant group, producing the man alive at a news conference a day after Indian media published his photograph and reported him to be a commander killed in an operation in Kashmir.

The dispute comes against a history of militant attacks in disputed Kashmir triggering military and diplomatic crises between the nuclear-armed neighbors, including a four-day conflict last year after New Delhi blamed Pakistan for an attack that killed 26 people in Pahalgam. Islamabad denied involvement.

India’s army said on Wednesday it had recovered the body of a Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant identified as Mohammad Asif alias Hashim Musa after an operation in Budgam district of Indian-administered Kashmir. Indian authorities described the slain man as a senior LeT commander involved in a string of attacks, while Indian media identified him as a former Pakistani special forces soldier and published a photograph of his national identity card.

“I am alive and in front of you,” Mohammad Asif told reporters after Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry called him into the news conference.

Asif said friends had called him after seeing reports that the Indian Army had killed him in Kashmir, while he later began receiving calls from Indian numbers seeking personal information.

He said he joined the Pakistan Army in 2000, entered the Special Services Group in 2005 and retired in 2023 before working for a private security company.

Asif said he had been living with his family in Rawalpindi in recent months.

Chaudhry described the episode as a “false flag,” walking reporters through Indian military statements, government releases and media reports that he said progressively connected the slain militant to Asif’s identity.

India has long accused Pakistan of supporting militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, a Himalayan region claimed in full but ruled in part by both countries. Pakistan denies providing military support to the insurgency.

The latest dispute comes less than 18 months after an April 2025 attack in Pahalgam sent relations between the neighbors into their most serious military confrontation in years. India blamed Pakistan for supporting the attackers and launched strikes inside Pakistan in May. Islamabad denied involvement and responded militarily before a ceasefire ended four days of fighting.

“Don’t try to put each and every problem on Pakistan,” Chaudhry said on Thursday.

He also warned that any attempt to launch another attack on the basis of such incidents would elicit a harsh military response from Pakistan.

“This time we will not leave them so easily,” he added.