Indian forces have reportedly launched a covert military campaign dubbed "Operation Mahadev", aimed at masking the failure of the earlier Operation Sindoor by staging fake encounters and executing illegally detained Pakistanis and Kashmiris. Pakistani security officials claim that the operation is designed to suppress the rising freedom movement in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and salvage the political credibility of the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
Under Operation Mahadev, individuals already imprisoned in Indian jails are being falsely labelled as cross-border infiltrators before being killed in staged military operations. Weapons and false confessions are reportedly being planted on the bodies, with Indian media briefed in advance to amplify the fabricated narrative of “terrorist neutralisations.”
These allegations come in the wake of previous incidents, including a reported false flag operation in Pahalgam on April 24, in which two Pakistani civilians, Muhammad Farooq and Muhammad Din, were allegedly martyred after mistakenly crossing the Line of Control. Human rights defenders and security analysts fear a repeat of similar tactics, with 723 Pakistani nationals currently detained in Indian prisons — 56 of whom are said to be held illegally by Indian intelligence agencies.
The Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, has expressed serious concern. "We have credible evidence that detainees may be executed and portrayed as terrorists killed in cross-border infiltrations. This is part of a larger propaganda effort to justify aggression in Kashmir and deflect from recent military failures," he said in a briefing.
International human rights organisations have long accused India of carrying out extrajudicial killings and custodial torture in Kashmir. Operation Mahadev, observers say, marks a dangerous escalation, further eroding New Delhi’s credibility and fuelling tensions in an already volatile region.
The timing of the operation also raises alarms, coming just months after Pakistan’s Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos dealt a humiliating blow to India, downing six fighter jets during an 87-hour conflict. Analysts believe Operation Mahadev is a desperate move to rewrite that defeat and rally domestic support through misinformation and human rights violations.
The international community is being urged to investigate and hold India accountable for its actions, as silence in the face of state-sponsored executions risks normalising impunity in one of the world’s most militarised zones.