Fact Check: Man claiming that Pahalgam terror attack is pre-planned is not an Indian Army officer

“Continuing with its role as a responsible country, Pakistan is open to participating in any neutral, transparent and credible investigation," Sharif said in a statement from Islamabad.

According to reports, The Resistance Front (TRF), an off-shoot of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has claimed responsibility for the April 22 attack.

Meanwhile, a video of a man wearing an Indian Army camouflage uniform, is being widely shared on social media with the claim that, “Pahalgam terrorist attack is a conspiracy to fulfill the political objectives of certain leaders.”

“I am Ashok Kumar, a senior Adhikari in the Indian Army. People were shown half-truths about the Pahalgam attack. Security lapses and media coverage raise serious questions about the incident. I witnessed many operations in my career but this one was unique. The attack indicates a false flag operation. It was designed to appear as an act of terror by outsiders, but was in fact a pre-planned operation,” the man claiming to be an Indian Army soldier can be heard saying in the viral video.

Sharing this video on his Facebook, Apni Janata Party (AJP) leader Swami Prasad Maurya wrote, “Listen to the truth about the Pahalgam terror attack directly from an Indian Army soldier, Ashok Kumar. He said the Pahalgam terrorist attack is a conspiracy to fulfill the political objectives of the leaders. I had never imagined even in my dreams that they would stoop to this level. Congratulations to this brave soldier who exposed the conspiracy.” (at the time of filing this story, Maurya had deleted his Facebook post ).

The viral claim link is here and the archive link here.

Here’s the screenshot of the viral post.

Fact Check:

During the investigation, the Telugupost Fact Check team found the claim by the Indian Army soldier was found to be false.

As it was a serious allegation pertaining to the terror attack in Kashmir valley on April 22, 2025, we began our investigation using a combination of various keywords in Google Search but we didn’t find any news coverage related to the claim.

While searching for viral video, we found that an Instagram user ‘Akram Patel’ first shared the video which was subsequently amplified by other social medical users. However, he later deleted the post.

“Indian Army soldier Ashok Kumar says what the media won't say. Pahalgam is not what is being shown. *Intelligence failure. Questions were ignored. Are the public being fooled?* Our suspicions have come true as this attack was the work of the BJP,” the user captioned his now deleted post.

When we pay close attention to what the person in the video is saying, it becomes clear that he is reading from a script. It seems the person is trying to pretend like an Indian soldier but ends up speaking a more bookish language than an actual Army jawan does.

Additionally, he is shown wearing a PC-DPM (Personal Clothing - Disruptive Pattern Material) which was unveiled by the Indian Army in 2006. The design incorporates horizontal swathes of black, brown and green on a khaki-green background.

It is pertinent to note that the person impersonating an Indian Army soldier is wearing a camouflage uniform, while the Indian Army unveiled a new combat uniform at the Army Day parade in 2022. The new combat uniform has a bit of olive green and earthen shades and is better suited for tough climatic conditions.

Some Indian X users have claimed that the person in the video is Malik Kanji, a Pakistani national and part time drama actor. They have even claimed that they had details about the physical location of the person. However, the veracity of this claim could not be verified.

The investigation revealed that the video originated from Pakistan and the person posing as an Indian Army soldier in the video and claiming that the Pahalgam terror attack was “pre-planned” does not belong to Indian Armed Forces. Hence, the claim is false.