Baby Chakraborty, KalimNews, June 25, 2025, Kolkata : Major Syed Moiz Abbas Shah of the Pakistan Army, who gained international attention in 2019 for claiming to have captured Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, was killed in an encounter with militants in South Waziristan. The incident, confirmed by the Pakistan Army’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), has once again cast a spotlight on Pakistan’s complex and controversial relationship with extremist groups it once supported.
The 37-year-old officer, a native of Chakwal district and a member of the elite Special Services Group (SSG), died during an operation against Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants in the volatile Sararogha region near the Afghan border. Alongside Major Moiz, Lance Naik Jibran Ullah, 27, also lost his life in the fierce encounter. According to official statements, Pakistani troops neutralized 11 TTP militants and injured seven others in the operation.
Moiz’s death marks a grim twist in the narrative of Pakistan’s decades-long entanglement with militant outfits. Once hailed as a ‘hero’ by Pakistani media for his role in capturing Wing Commander Abhinandan following the 2019 aerial dogfight triggered by the Pulwama attack, Major Moiz became a symbol of Pakistan’s military triumph in the eyes of its public. An old interview with Geo TV, now recirculating online, features Moiz—then a captain—recounting how he saved Abhinandan from a violent mob after his MiG-21 was downed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Funeral services for Major Moiz were held at Chaklala Garrison in Rawalpindi, with Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir attending and honouring his sacrifice. “Major Syed Moiz Abbas fought bravely in the face of resistance and ultimately laid down his life in the line of duty, upholding the highest traditions of bravery, sacrifice, and patriotism,” the ISPR quoted Munir as saying. His body was flown to his hometown, where he was buried with full military honours.
Moiz had been commissioned into the Pakistan Army in 2011 and later joined the SSG, Pakistan’s top-tier special operations force. At the time of his death, he was posted in one of the most restive and dangerous regions of Pakistan, battling the very forces once allegedly nurtured by the state itself.
The TTP, an umbrella organization formed in 2007 after the controversial Red Mosque siege in Islamabad, initially flourished with indirect backing from elements within Pakistan’s security establishment. Trained and radicalized in camps affiliated with groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Mohammad, TTP militants have since turned their weapons against the Pakistani state. Once a “strategic asset,” the TTP has become a domestic nightmare.
Over the years, the TTP has been responsible for a string of deadly attacks including the 2008 Marriott Hotel bombing, the 2009 assault on Pakistan’s military headquarters, and numerous strikes on military bases. Described by Pakistan’s leadership as “Fitna al-Khawarij”—a term from early Islamic history denoting violent rebellion—the group remains closely associated with global jihadist networks, including al-Qaeda.
Since 2024, more than 1,200 Pakistani military and police personnel have been killed in TTP-linked violence. In 2025 alone, at least 116 soldiers have died in such attacks. Major Moiz Abbas Shah is the latest in this mounting toll—a name once used to fan nationalist fervour now etched into the growing list of victims of the very militancy Pakistan once overlooked.
This incident has reignited intense debate about the contradictions in Pakistan’s security and foreign policy. Observers and analysts argue that the tragic death of Major Moiz encapsulates the consequences of long-standing state complicity with militant groups. A man once celebrated for capturing an Indian pilot has now fallen to bullets fired by those bred in the very shadows of Pakistan’s fragmented militant policy.