Claim: Indian MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Pakistan presented a masked impostor as former SSG commando Mohammad Asif because Indian forces had killed the real Asif.
Fact: A viral graphic falsely attributes the remarks to Jaiswal. He made no allegation about a masked impostor in the original MEA briefing.
On 8 October 2026, a verified Facebook page, ‘Dekho’, shared a graphic claiming that Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had alleged that Pakistan presented a masked impostor as former Special Service Group (SSG) commando Mohammad Asif.
Screenshot of a Facebook post shared by the verified page Dekho on 8 October 2026, falsely attributing remarks about former SSG commando Mohammad Asif to Indian MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.
The graphic features Jaiswal speaking at a podium, alongside another man’s photograph inside a circular frame. The text on the image reads:
“Man Shown By Pakistan’s DG ISPR As SSG Commando Asif Wore A Face Mask Because The Original Was Killed By Indian Forces, Says Randhir Jaswal.”
The accompanying caption repeated the allegation, referring to conflicting accounts from Pakistan and India over the former commando’s identity and fate.
The claim also circulated through Facebook reels, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).
Dispute over former SSG commando’s reported death
On 30 September 2026, India’s Ministry of Home Affairs announced that security forces had killed a senior Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander identified as Musa, also known as Asif Fauji, during an operation in the Budgam district of Indian-administered Kashmir.
Indian media, including Hindustan Times, subsequently identified the deceased as Mohammad Asif, also known as Hashim Musa, and claimed that he had previously served in the Pakistan Army’s Special Service Group (SSG).
On 1 October, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry rejected the Indian reports during a press conference in Rawalpindi. He presented a man identified as retired Havaldar Mohammad Asif before journalists, challenging the reports of his death.
Speaking at the press conference, Asif said he had retired from the Pakistan Army in 2023 and was at home when he learned that Indian media had reported his death.
The incident prompted conflicting accounts from Pakistan and India over the identity of the man killed in Kashmir. More recently, on 7 October, Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal responded to Pakistan’s presentation during a media briefing in New Delhi.
Fact or Fiction?
To investigate the claim, Soch Fact Check first examined the graphic shared by Dekho on Facebook on 8 October 2026.
We then conducted keyword searches for the statement attributed to Jaiswal and found a 45-second video shared by the verified X account The Whistle Blower (@InsiderWB) on 7 October 2026, a day before Dekho published its graphic.
Screenshot of a video shared by ‘The Whistle Blower’ on X, on 7 October 2026, falsely attributing claims about a masked impostor to Randhir Jaiswal.
The 45-second video appears to show Jaiswal speaking during a media briefing, with a voice presented as his making the following claims:
“It has come to our knowledge that Mr. Asif Hussain, who sat with the Pakistani DGISPR, was wearing a face mask. So Pakistan is creating a big conspiracy here because we have evidence to prove that Asif Hussain, an active SSG commander from the Pakistani army, died within Kashmir and he was taken out by our brave Chinar Corps. While the Asif Hussain presented by the Pakistani DGISPR was wearing a face mask. There is some good modern technology these days. Silicon masks are available worldwide. So they made him wear this mask to create an image that they have the Pulwama attacker within them, but it is all false. That’s all I have to say. Evidence will be presented in due time. Thank you.”
The accompanying caption repeated the allegation, claiming that the man presented by Pakistan’s DG ISPR was wearing a face mask because the real Asif had been killed by Indian forces.
We then searched for Jaiswal’s original remarks and located the official MEA briefing, published on 7 October 2026.
Left: The original MEA briefing published on 7 October 2026. Right: The viral video falsely attributing remarks about a masked impostor to Randhir Jaiswal. The alleged remarks do not appear in the original recording.
At 26:00–26:34 of the original briefing, Jaiswal responded to a question about Pakistan. His remarks were as follows (transliterated into Roman Urdu while retaining his original Hindi vocabulary):
“Shayad aapka sawaal Pakistan ko leke hai, toh main yeh kehna chahunga ki ek aisa desh jo seema paar aatankvaad ko saalon se badhava deta raha hai, yeh us prakaar ke ek unke swabhaav mein aa gaya hai ki aap jhooth bolein, aap galat cheezon ko aage daalein, aur main yahi kehna chahunga ki kitna hi koshish kar lijiye, jo television ke saamne jo drama kiya jaata hai, us pe zameeni haqeeqat ko woh nahin badal sakta hai.”
[Translation: “Perhaps your question is about Pakistan, so I would like to say that a country which has promoted cross-border terrorism for years has developed a habit of lying and putting forward falsehoods. And I would like to say that no matter how hard you try, the drama staged in front of television cameras cannot change the reality on the ground.”]
A comparison of the two recordings revealed that Jaiswal made no reference to face masks, an impostor, or evidence that Indian forces had killed the real Asif Hussain. In the original briefing, he criticised Pakistan over cross-border terrorism and alleged falsehoods.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs also published a separate video of Jaiswal’s response on Pakistan on its official Facebook page and shared a post linking to the full briefing. Both concern the briefing held on 7 October 2026. The statement attributed to him in the viral video is absent from the original footage of the briefing.
AI-detection analysis
To further examine the authenticity of the viral recording shared by some users, Soch Fact Check analysed its audio using Hiya’s Deepfake Voice Detector, a tool designed to identify synthetic and AI-generated speech.
Screenshot of Hiya’s Deepfake Voice Detector showing a 97% detection score for the viral video’s audio, which the tool classified as “very likely AI-generated”.
The tool returned a detection score of 97%, classifying the audio as “very likely AI-generated”.
According to Hiya’s documentation, its technology assesses whether voices have been generated or modified using AI.
Although the result suggests possible AI manipulation, automated detection alone cannot conclusively establish whether or how the recording was altered. The comparison with the original MEA briefing remains the primary evidence that Jaiswal did not make the alleged remarks.
Virality
The claim circulated on Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). Soch Fact Check identified 19 Facebook posts, four Instagram posts, and one X post carrying or repeating the allegation.
As of 9 October 2026, a post shared by the verified Facebook page ‘Dekho’ and a video posted by the X account ‘The Whistle Blower’ together accumulated approximately 10,600 reactions, comments, shares, and reposts. The X video had also garnered approximately 72,000 views.
Conclusion: The viral graphic attributes false remarks about former Pakistani SSG commando Mohammad Asif to Indian MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. He did not allege in the original briefing that Pakistan had presented a masked impostor.
Soch Fact Check therefore rates the claim false.
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