ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Information Minister Atta Tarar said on Saturday that security agencies have arrested a Pakistani fisherman recruited and trained by India’s intelligence service who was coerced into carrying out espionage operations inside Pakistan.
Speaking at a press conference, Tarar said that the suspect, identified as Ijaz Mallah, had confessed to receiving money and instructions from Indian operatives after being detained by the Indian Coast Guard in September. Ijaz was reportedly released on the condition that he spy for India.
“The Indian intelligence agency lured a poor Pakistani fisherman with money and tasked him to collect sensitive information,” Tarar told reporters. “Our intelligence services tracked his activities when he attempted to buy Army, Navy, and Rangers uniforms.”
Authorities said Ijaz was apprehended under surveillance, and during interrogation, he admitted to following instructions from Indian handlers. In a video shown to the media, Ijaz said he and several fishermen were captured while fishing in the open sea and later offered freedom if they agreed to work for Indian intelligence.
“They told me to buy Pakistani currency, Zong SIM cards, cigarettes, and uniforms of security forces,” Ijaz said in his recorded statement.
“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 Tarar said.
Payment by Indian agents
Tarar said financial records showed Ijaz was paid 95,000 Pakistani rupees by Indian agents. He added that Pakistan’s agencies have obtained evidence, including videos and audio clips, which will be shared with the media.
“India is frustrated by Pakistan’s diplomatic and operational successes,” the minister said. “After the failure of Operation Sandur, India has launched false information and propaganda campaigns.”
“Let me make it very clear that Pakistan intelligence agencies and security agencies are always fully alert and diligent in their duty […] and ready to hatch any conspiracy,” Tarar said, after playing a purported video of the arrested fisherman.
Link to India’s naval exercise
The minister noted, “This particular activity could be linked to the naval exercise being carried out by the Indian navy in the Kutch or Gujarat area, the Bujh area. Maybe this was a conspiracy to link this activity to those exercises. This is one possibility.”
He added that the government was placing the evidence before the entire world so India’s “nefarious designs could be exposed”.
Tarar highlighted that not only were the said items recovered, but the man’s statement was “legally on record”.
“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,” the minister 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.
Big success for Pakistan’s security agencies
The information minister also highlighted that whenever state elections were approaching in India, they “try to prepare for those elections well in advance”. He termed the arrest and the foiling of the “conspiracy” a big success for Pakistan’s security agencies.
“After Kulbhushan Yadav, they are now resorting to common fishermen because they can’t risk sending their commissioned officers in the guise of businessmen,” Tarar quipped, referring to an Indian spy caught in 2016 in Balochistan.
“After this fisherman being caught, maybe they will lower their level further because their capacity will no longer be there to penetrate inside Pakistan,” he added.
Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry, who was also present at the briefing, said the arrest exposed “India’s ongoing disinformation and psychological warfare operations.”
“Pakistan’s institutions remain vigilant,” Chaudhry added, accusing India of trying to destabilise Pakistan through covert influence and misinformation campaigns.
He also said that Pakistani agencies had the evidence of the transactions worth “95,000 rupees” that took place between Indian officials and the fisherman. It was unclear whether Chaudhry was referring to Indian or Pakistani rupees.
The minister of state urged the public to remain vigilant and not be used by someone under pressure or out of greed.
During the press conference, the ministers also played an audio recording allegedly of Mallah and his “Indian handler”, which was recovered through a forensic test of the fisherman’s mobile phone.
In the purported audio, the person tells Mallah to secure two pairs each of uniforms worn by the Sindh Rangers, the Pakistan Navy and the Pakistan Army. He also says he had specified “six names” — two from each of the three security branches — for nametags that Mallah was supposed to procure.
Accepted offer due to fear of jail and for reward: fisherman
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 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 that bring so and so items, some uniforms of Rangers, coast guard, the navy and the army,” he added.
“We also need three Zong SIMs, bring those, and three bills from a mobile shop,” the fisherman quoted the Indian official as saying. The official also instructed him to bring Pakistan-made cigarettes, match boxes and lighters, as well as currency notes of Rs50 and Rs100, Mallah added.
The fisherman said he was set free by the Indian agency, after which he returned to Pakistan and collected the set items. He claimed he sent a picture of those items to an Indian intelligence officer named Ashok Kumar.
“After that, I headed towards the sea in October but was arrested by Pakistani security and other individuals with them,” Mallah said.
Operation exposes espionage for Indian intelligence agency
Pakistani security agencies have foiled an Indian intelligence attempt to use a Pakistani fisherman to procure and smuggle military uniforms and other items for clandestine operations.
Officials described the case as part of a wider campaign of propaganda operations launched by New Delhi after the failure of Operation Sundoor and its subsequent diplomatic embarrassment.
The suspect, identified as Ijaz Mallah, was arrested in October 2025 while attempting to smuggle a consignment by boat. He had been under surveillance after repeatedly enquiring about military clothing and equipment from shops in Karachi.
During a joint intelligence operation, Mallah was intercepted at sea, and security personnel recovered Pakistan Army, Navy and Sindh Rangers uniforms, name tags, Zong SIM cards, Pakistani currency notes, cigarettes, and other locally made items.
A forensic analysis of Mallah’s mobile phone revealed voice messages and audio clips linking him to an Indian handler who provided detailed procurement instructions.
Investigators also found financial records showing he received an initial payment of Rs95,000 from Indian operatives, with the remainder promised after successful delivery.
In his recorded confession, Mallah said he was detained by the Indian Coast Guard in September 2025, taken to an undisclosed location, and offered freedom and money in exchange for cooperating with Indian intelligence.
Officials said the recovered items, including military uniforms, name tags, and Pakistan-made consumer goods, were likely intended for staged incidents aimed at fabricating evidence of Pakistani involvement in violent acts inside India.
The choice of Navy and Rangers uniforms suggested the plan could have been linked to ongoing Indian naval exercises in coastal areas of Gujarat, including Kutch or Bhuj.
Authorities further noted that the inclusion of Zong SIM cards with blank purchase invoices appeared designed to create a false communications trail implicating Chinese entities.
Pakistan’s information minister said the operation’s evidence would be shared with international partners to expose what he called India’s “nefarious designs.” He added that the case demonstrated the vigilance and professionalism of Pakistan’s intelligence and security agencies, which remain fully prepared to counter such propaganda operations.
