Did India use commercial flights as ‘human shields’?
In the ongoing information warfare between India and Pakistan, narratives clash with great fervor. India has, over the past few weeks, come forward accusing Pakistan of using civilian airliners as 'shields' for their military aircraft during high tension timelines. However, a deep dive into the OSINT data encompassing flight logs, social media timestamps, and official military briefings reveals a most sinister exploitation of commercial flights. It suggests that rather than simply getting caught in the crossfire, these airplanes were intentionally steered by Indian air traffic controllers towards the crosshairs of the IAF strike packages, which were positioned in the Kashmir and Jammu regions, instead of the safer east-south-easterly routes. As the provided OSINT images suggest, air traffic control cynically turned these passengers into ‘human shields’ for IAF fighter jets.
Diverting civilian aircraft into a conflict zone, especially for military purposes, is an outrageous breach of humanitarian law. It also depicts utter contempt for human life and violently disrupts the sacredness of civilian airspace. The military maneuvers alongside flights conducted by commercial airlines leave an unnerving imprint, which calls for thorough investigation of responsibility and instant global attention.
Commercial flights pushed into danger
In contrast to the tracks navigated by these specific aircraft, commercial flights operating in these sectors were supposed to take well-timed and east-south-east directions avoiding ‘danger-zones’. However, OSINT offered evidence records which clearly demonstrate the opposite hypothesis during the claimed periods of IAF military activities.
Let’s talk about the baseline first: The preset “normal route” for these airliners is showcased as a magenta line in the image below.
This ‘standard flight path’ of the route was not to be! And the airliners were tracked in a northward direction, which purportedly brought civilian flights deep into the core of the military action zone.
Flight tracker data from 6 May 2025, 19:30 UTC shows a bobbing cluster of commercial aircraft including THA961, KAC-381, THA911, THA931 to mention a few as per above video 1. They seem to have a northern heading. Instead of being diverted southwards and out of a possible conflict, these flights seem to be kept or actively routed towards the Jammu & Kashmir parts of the region.
IAF's concealed maneuvers
The timeline of this scenario proceeded with IAF operations started at 0010 hours PST 7 May 2025 & 6 May 1910 UTC with Indian airstrike within Pakistan’s borders at 35 minutes past midnight which is 0035 PST 7 May 2025 &1935 UTC 6 May 2025. A PAF response was activated at 0012 hrs PST & 1912 UTC. Added to the list of projectiles fired at the heart of Pakistan were Bahawalpur to the south, Muzaffarabad mosque in the north, alongside a presumed Muridke compound. The most concerning tale of pertaining to ‘human shield’ disclaimer is the control airspace of the IAF over regions of Indian Kashmir and Jammu as it is proven that commercial flights were routed into these zones.
IAF's presence and civilian overlap
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) gave a press briefing with the slide “RECONSTRUCTION OF EVENTS” as below, when a photograph in the slide strikingly caught the attention of the author. It shows IAF strike packages marked with red boxes and dotted over the LOC as well as the Indian Kashmir and Jammu region.
Combining PAF’s reconstruction with actual civilian flight data tells a similar story. The flight tracker info showing 6 May 2025, UTC 19:35:06 timestamped below Image 8 shows civilian air traffic feeding into the so-called “operational zones” of IAF redacted strikes. The picture exhibits superdense garrisoned traffic of jets in the construed airspace of the north. The display provides uncanny resemblance to random intersections of civil flight paths with IAF fighter activities.
Shown in the image below, the overlap is reemphasized with OSINT along the dangerous corridor where Qatar Airways flight QTR85V and China Southern Airlines flight CSN8070 are located, corroborating the timeline. As for their flight paths, QTR85V is visible south of Bhatinda and south-west of Adhampur, locations that, according to PAF charts, were close to where a Rafael aircraft was operating (288 / 19 NM from Bhatinda) and where an S-400 was reportedly deployed. CSN8070 is also in almost the same critical location. Noteworthy is that Vietnam Airlines flight HVN18 also traversed this sensitive region. With the same timing, this flight was flying east to Hanoi from Paris, and put through ‘beelining’ around the highly contested area.
Acquired information, as per the following image, suggests there was also Kuwait Airways flight KAC381 (Kuwait City – Delhi) appears to have taken the most curious detour crossing the furthest to ‘exotic’ combat zones as well. Its flight path castles a continuous line which markedly contradicts the usual routes airline flights take through the LOC which appears even more transparent as it virtually flies straight to the spot “to protect IAF indeed”. This precise positioning of multiple civilian airliners near key Indian military assets and operational zones intensifies the 'human shield' claim.
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All went quiet on the eastern front as soon as 1945 UTC – 0045 hrs PST. Once the IAF had completed its weapons release and its munitions had hit their targets.
All airliners divert
The "Kill Chart" and strategic positioning
Seen in the official PAF brief, the “Kill Chart” shared with media representatives featured IAF aircraft such as the Rafale, MiG 29, Su-30 MKI, with shooting ranges marked relative to important locations like Srinagar, Jammu and the International Border. In the modified image of the “Kill Chart” below, the red box highlights an area where civilian airliners were flying heavily around the time the alleged strikes occurred. The area where the IAF aircraft were said to be operating overlaps and is key to the ‘human shield’ narrative.
The implication is stark: Pakistani fighter jets took great care taking ‘shots of opportunity in Grind’ while in BVR (Beyond Visual Range) air combat mode and ‘sorting’ the targets avoiding the commercial jets in the area. As well as defend themselves from crossfire during any aggressive attempts from IAF jets which were indeed present in the conflict zones of Indian Kashmir and Jammu. If IAF jets had commanding presence over these particular zones – which was not to be – and civilian airliners were forced or retained on to the Northern paths to these zones, it would cripple all attempts by Pakistan air defence to intercept or counter fire. This specific approach makes defendable every argument around the possible killing of thousands of innocent civilians under the guise of military operations.
A grave violation: the purposeful proximity
The integration of OSINT, including flight tracking data, local Bahawalpur tweet – image 14 – reporting impacts around 0040 PST, and military replays, provides a coherent yet disturbing analysis. The critical concern is: Why were commercial airlines actively instructed to forcefully maneuver into, and purportedly stay within, an airstrike package IAF purportedly positioned over Kashmir and Jammu, rather than being safely, international airspace guideline compliant, routed well south of the conflict zone?
Best practice aviation safety risk management protocols order the immediate air space clearance of commercial aviation during any aviation military activity. Regardless, the OSINT data paints a picture that not only were those protocols completely disregarded, but an illogical dangerous northern route was enforced or followed.
Implications: a deliberate act of endangerment
This glaring absence of southward diversions, coupled with the dense civilian air traffic being funnelled northwards, compels a severe examination of the implications for India's conduct…
- Gross Negligence and Strategic Misjudgment: One possibility points to an appalling failure of coordination and judgment within India's command and control. Such a lapse, leading to thousands of civilian lives being knowingly exposed to a conflict zone, would constitute a profound breach of aviation safety and human ethics.
- A Deliberate 'Human Shield' Tactic: The most chilling implication, and the focus of the counter-narrative which the writer offers here, is the allegation of an ‘intent strategy’. Steering civilian airliners into an active operational zone transforms the aircraft and passengers into a ‘human shield’ that inhibits effective defensive countermeasures. If this hypothesis was proven, the consequences would not only be devastating in terms of international humanitarian law—particularly the principle of distinction—but also represent a deeply immoral act of civilian life cannibalization for the purposes of warfare.
The human cost and the call for accountability
Above and beyond the specific intricacies of flight paths and military maps lies an unquestionable human dimension. Every yellow symbol on those flight tracker maps conveys hundreds of individuals, including passengers, pilots, and cabin crew, unaware that their routine flight was allegedly meant to be turned into some sort of a dangerous military operation. It is deeply disturbing and morally distressing to contemplate that these people might have been intended to be a shield for military operations behind the scenes.
The comprehensive collection of open-source intelligence provided in this case, such as detailed flight tracking data, contemporaneous social media reports, and official military briefings, along with others, raises some of the most profound and unsettling questions alongside the ones that have already been answered. It strongly indicates that civilian airliners were purposely steered dangerously close to IAF operational zones, directly undermining the narrative India has been pointing out against Pakistan.
It goes beyond the issues of international relations or military maneuvers; it is an investigation into law and morality, along with the fundamental right to unimpeded access to traversing through airspace regarded as civilian without risk. There needs to be an investigation done by an outside entity because ‘unbiased’ has become a myth in modern discourse. It is necessary to understand so that measures can be put in place to prevent what can been bluntly described as ‘contemptable’. Every single honest citizen of the world is yet to receive answers on what these innocent individuals did to deserve being jammed into the space just above the so-called weapon delivery zone and who bears the ultimate responsibility for this alleged act of deception and endangerment.
Fahad Masood is an aviation analyst and freelance contributor
All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the author