The EU DisinfoLab, a Brussels-based NGO that focuses on researching and tackling sophisticated disinformation campaigns targeting the European Union (EU), its member states, core institutions, and core values, has uncovered a 15-year-old operation by India.
Titled ‘Indian Chronicles: deep dive into a 15-year operation targeting the EU and UN to serve Indian interests’, the DisinfoLab termed this as the “largest network” of disinformation they have exposed so far. According to their research, India used hundreds of fake media outlets and the identity of a dead professor to target Pakistan.
According to the BBC, the researchers uncovered 265 pro-Indian sites operating across 65 countries and traced them back to a Delhi-based Indian holding company, the Srivastava Group (SG). BBC says that the content produced on fake media outlets is amplified with the help of Asian News International (ANI) – India’s largest wire service and a key focus of the investigation.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Saturday rejected the Indian Ministry of External Affairs’ “attempt to deny responsibility for the elaborate and reprehensible” disinformation campaign against Pakistan. Indian MEA had earlier said that “India does not practice disinformation campaigns”, a denial that falls flat on its face when you go through the DisinfoLab’s in-depth research.
It was no secret that India was involved in such disinformation operations globally to discredit Pakistan but the extent of the way these networks has been used is quite eye-opening. In 2017, Geo News reported that “the Indian mission in Geneva is controlling anti-Pakistan activities and the local Swiss administration has been paid heavy amounts in commercial deals for these campaigns across its public transport, road networks, and private business venues” after an expensive multi-faceted campaign in Geneva targeting Pakistan was highlighted when the 36th session of the UNHRC was underway.
India thinks of itself as a regional superpower in South Asia and leaves no stone unturned to malign Pakistan and has used extensive paid propaganda campaign to achieve its nefarious designs. Last month, Pakistan handed over a dossier on India’s terror campaign to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, urging him to prevail on New Delhi to desist from its illegal and aggressive activities. In light of the new report by EU DisinfoLab, the international community must investigate how the EU and UN were duped by India’s disinformation campaign, including a controversial visit of European parliamentarians (MEPs) to Indian-Occupied Kashmir last year.
It is pertinent to note that the world continues to ignore the atrocities being committed in Occupied Kashmir by the Indian forces. Global human rights organisations and the international media highlighted Indian atrocities but the international community has largely turned a blind eye to grave human rights violations because of the Indian economic market. It is unfortunate that the world community, due to vested interests tied to the Indian market, has taken no action against India.
Pakistan must keep highlighting this new report, which was unearthed by a neutral NGO that has nothing to do with Pakistan. The world must wake up to India’s disinformation campaign.
