A massive operation to serve Indian interests by targeting internationalinstitutions, through a systematic disinformation campaign against Pakistanand China has been uncovered by a EU based organisation.
“The operation’s mission is to discredit nations in conflict with India inAsia, in particular Pakistan but also China to a lesser extent,” a studyconducted by EU DisinfoLab, an independent NGO said. The operation was afollow up to a preliminary investigation published in 2019.
network is active in Brussels and Geneva in producing and amplifyingcontent to undermine – primarily – Pakistan. The operation codenamed“Indian Chronicles” resurrected dead media, dead think-tanks and NGOs. Iteven resurrected dead people, the report revealed.
The network is part of the sinister propaganda campaign, part of its FifthGeneration Hybrid Warfare – 5GWlink,against Pakistan with an objective to create chaos in the country.
According to the EU DisinfoLab – the Indian Chronicles is a 15 year-longoperation running since 2005; under which over ten UN Human Rights Councilaccredited NGOs, were resurrected including the resurrection of Prof. LouisB. Sohn, a prominent figure in human rights, who died in 2006. The reporthas been dedicated in his name.
“LOUIS B. SOHN, WHO PASSED AWAY IN 2006, SEEMINGLY ATTENDED A UN HUMANRIGHTS COUNCILMEETING IN 2007 …”
The study discovered several identity thefts, including the names of MartinSchulz, former president of the European Parliament or the photo of JamesPurnell, a former UK Government minister. It also included over 750 fakemedia outlets, covering 119 countries; and over 550 domain names registered.
The NGO – EU DisinfoLab focuses on researching and tackling sophisticateddisinformation campaigns targeting the EU, its member states, coreinstitutions, and core values, said the operation began in 2005 and wasstill ongoing till this date.[image: India Chronicles – Summary]India Chronicles – Summary
The study, of the 15-year influence operation, was conducted throughopen-source investigation and shows that the operation led by theSrivastava Group was amplified by Indian news media outlet – Asian NewsInternational – ANI.
Other long-term objectives of the plan included reinforcement ofpro-Indian and anti-Pakistan, and anti-Chinese, feelings, within India.While internationally it aimed at consolidating the power and improveperception of India, to damage reputation of other countries and ultimatelybenefit from more support from international institutions such as the EUand the UN.
To achieve this objective the operation focused on the support to minorityand human rights NGOs and think-tanks, use of Members of the EuropeanParliament to create a mirage of institutional support from Europeaninstitutions to these minority groups, in favour of Indian interests andagainst Pakistan and China.
It also had an active presence in Geneva and the United Nations’ HumanRights Council through: side-events and demonstrations in support ofminority rights; impersonation of extinguished UN-accredited NGOs or usespeaking slots reserved to various NGOs whose original missions seemtotally unrelated.
The creation of fake media in Brussels, Geneva and across the world andrepackaging and dissemination via ANI and obscure local media networks inat least 97 countries – to multiply the repetition of online negativecontent about countries in conflict with India, in particular Pakistan.[image: Indian Chronicles news outlets]Indian Chronicles- FakeInternational News Outlets
According to the details provided by the EU DisinfoLab, last year, anetwork of 265 fake media in 65 countries reproducing negative contentagainst Pakistan online was uncovered.
The network was created by malicious actors who were behind “EP Today”, afake European Parliament magazine active in Brussels since 2006.
The self-proclaimed “magazine for the European Parliament in Brussels” wasserving as a “honeypot” for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) andother politicianswho could use it to publish their views – particularly those that serveIndian interests and undermine Pakistan.
Some of these MEPs and other politicians attended United Nationsside-events, press conferences and demonstrations in Geneva organised byminority-rights NGOs all set-up by the same actors, such as the EuropeanOrganization for Pakistani Minorities.
The organisations created by the Srivastava Group in Brussels organisedtrips for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to Kashmir, Bangladeshand the Maldives.
“DELEGATIONS OF MEPS WERE OFTEN PRESENTED ASOFFICIAL EU DELEGATIONS WHEN THEY WERE IN FACT NOTTRAVELLING ON BEHALF OF THE PARLIAMENT”
Some of these trips led to much institutional controversy, as thedelegations of MEPs were often presented as official EU delegations whenthey were in fact not travelling onbehalf of the Parliament.ALSO READ Pak-China TCM training project kicks off in Qingdao, Chinalink
The actors orchestrating Indian Chronicles are directly tied – and againnot at all transparently – to the creation of three informal groups in theEuropean Parliament,namely the “South Asia Peace Forum”, the “Baloch Forum” and “Friends ofGilgit-Baltistan”. They hold press conferences and events within and infront of the European Parliament.[image: India Chronicles – network of disinformation]India Chronicles –network of disinformation
Organisations like WESTT – the Women Economic and Social Think-Tank – havedrafted and suggested parliamentary questions to the European Commission,along witharticles for fake EU magazines such as EP Today. These served as a honeypotto attract a growing number of MEPs into a pro-India and anti-Pakistandiscourse, often usingcauses such as minorities rights and women’s rights as an entry point.
EU Chronicle – the new “EP Today”[image: India Chronicles – EU Chronicle]India Chronicles – EU Chronicle
A new fake media with fake journalists supposedly covering Europeanaffairs, yet essentially providing a platform for MEPs to sign pro-Indianarticles. In less than 6 months of existence, already 11 MEPs have writtenor endorsed op-eds at a remarkably high pace for EU Chronicle.
The role of ANI: Repackaging and amplifying the content produced inBrussels & Geneva
Back to EU Chronicle. The only valuable coverage these op-eds receive,comes from an immediate repackaging by an Indian press agency – ANI (AsianNews International), often quoting these op-eds as genuine articles from“independent media EU Chronicle”.
Without Times of Geneva and 4 News Agency which stopped their activitiesfollowing our previous investigation, ANI – which is considered as one ofthe biggest news agencies in India and the largest television agency ofIndia – remains the only press agency to extensively cover the activitiesof dubious
NGOs in Geneva
While following the coverage – and often distortion – by ANI of its contentproduced in Brussels and Geneva, the DisinfoLab discovered the Big NewsNetwork and the World News Network – an entire network of 500+ fake localmedia in 95 countries that helped reproduce negative iterations aboutPakistan and or China.[image: India Chronicles NGOs]India Chronicles NGOs
The content produced was primarily targeted at Indian nationals, with anextensive coverage of these barely known “media”, MEPs and “NGOs” in Europe.
The investigation revealed how the activities of a fake “zombie-NGO” andthat of a fake specialised media can be repackaged, distorted and amplifiedby malicious actors to influence or disinform globally, using loopholes ininternational institutions and online search engines.
How it happens – Step 1
On 17 September 2020, an article is published in EU Chronicle about aletter sent by several MEPs. The letter was sent to “the President of theEuropean Council Charles Michel, the President of the European CommissionUrsula von der Leyen, the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and to thePresident of France Emmanuel Macron. It requests that the European Unionmeaningfully addresses, through strong action, China’s Human Rightsatrocities at the EU-China Summit”.
It is important to note that this is simply a letter signed by a group ofindividual MEPs, and this is NOT an official position of the EuropeanParliament. The article is titled rather in a soft manner: “Meaningfuladdress and strong action needed against China’s human rights atrocities”.
Step 2
The article by EU Chronicle is then covered by ANI, and retitled with aslightly harder tone: “Members of the European Parliament urge EU to takestrong action on China for Human Rights Violation”.
Part of Indian Chronicles’ dissemination operations revolve around the BigNews Network, a self-proclaimed “news agency” owning more than 450 mediaoutlets. While most sites are basically copy-pastes of each other, theircontent is not remarkably original either. Most of the time, the networksyndicates content from newswire companies, some international mediaoutlets and… the ANI press agency.
Another fake media, the “Times of Geneva” – along with an equally fake,allegedly Geneva-based press agency called 4 News Agency – would thenproduce written and video content.
This content was reused online by NGOs and disseminated via the global fakemedia network and/or via an Indian press agency (ANI).
Step 3
The coverage by ANI is then distorted by the Big News Network in dozens offake local/regional media and is now titled “EU to take strong action onChina”, in Europenews.net for instance.
This operation was attributed to the New-Delhi based Srivastava Group which– in partnership with the Women’s Economic and Social Think-Tank (WESTT) –sponsored the trip of 27 MEPs to visit Kashmir and met with India’s PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.ALSO READ UN expert calls for WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange’s release,cites prison’s coronavirus outbreaklink
The investigation led to the finding of 10 UN-accredited NGOs directlycontrolled by the Srivastava Group, which the full report introduces atlength. Their common trait?
The fact that they all rose from the ashes of real NGOs. Indian Chronicleseffectively benefited from the track record of these organisations whilepursuing their own agenda:discrediting Pakistan and promoting Indian interests at UN conferences andhearings.[image: India Chronicles – How Copy Paste works for Indian fake mediaoutles]India Chronicles – How Copy Paste works for Indian fake media outles
A look at the history of these NGOs clearly showed that the topics andissues at their very heart were not much of a concern for IndianChronicles. The operation takes just about any defunct NGO it can find andrevives it to promote Indian interests.
Examples include organisations defending peace, protecting the environmentor even… promoting canned food, the report said.
Before it ceased to exist in 2007, the Canners International PermanentCommittee (CIPC) was all about the canning industry. Its reincarnation doesnot seem so concernedwith food anymore: It mostly dispatches Geneva-based students to the UN totalk about Pakistan, and even organised side events on human rights at theUN.
Centre for environmental and management studies (CEMS)
The year CEMS was created is unknown, but what is known is that it wascreated in New-Delhi and was already active in the 1980s to promoteseminars for industrialists and educationalists on environmental issues.
Traces of an address in New-Delhi have been found, but the current addressgiven to the UN is in Canada and leads to a Regus office.
The domain name linked to the organisation was registered on January 20,2016 – on the same day as the registration of other accredited NGOs domainnames. It is also hosted on the same IP address than several otherSrivastava-owned websites. It can be confidently assumed that thisorganisation had long become inactive and was in fact resurrected by IndianChronicles.
At the UNHRC, the organisation is also represented either by Geneva-basedstudents or by Pakistan minorities representatives, conveying pro-Indianand anti-Pakistan messages.
The CEMS also organized side events on “human rights in South-Asia” and“Democracy and secularism” at the UN.
Interestingly, ANI and the network of fake local media outletsdisseminating ANI’s articles present the Centre for Environmental andManagement Studies as a “UK-based rights group” headed by Amjad Ayub Mirza,who is said to be as an “activist from PoK” (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir).Amjad Ayub Mirza presents himself as the Executive Director of the NGO andas a Consultant for the “Jammu Kashmir Peace and Development Institute.” Heis also featured in many articles of the ANI News agency.[image: India Chronicles ANI]India Chronicles ANI
The core theme of the original NGO – environment – was hijacked by IndianChronicles to undermine Pakistan.
A solid example: “Under CPEC our rivers are being diverted for hydropowerprojects and these projects are causing water shortages. The projects wouldforever destroy the ecology of our region. Scores of young men fromGilgit-Baltistan are serving 70-90 years of imprisonment for protestingagainst the plunder of our national resources.”
The ABCD of Indian Chronicles – Ever heard of the disinformation ABC?[image: The ABCD of Indian Chronicles – Ever heard of the disinformationABC?]The ABCD of Indian Chronicles – Ever heard of the disinformation ABC?
In a paper released in September 2019, Camille François, Graphika’s ChiefInnovation Officer, pointed to three key vectors for viral deception:manipulative Actors, deceptive Behaviour, and harmful Content. To these theEU DisinfoLab added the D, standing for information Distribution.
The Indian Chronicles network is a perfect illustration of the ABCDdisinformation framework.
The EU DisinfoLab concluded its report by expressing concern over “thecontinuation of Indian Chronicles which – despite our first report and widepress coverage – has pursued its 15-year long operation and even recentlylaunched EU Chronicle, a fake EU outlet.”
“This should serve as a call to action for decision-makers to put in placea relevant framework to sanction actors engaging in disinformation andabusing international institutions. It is possible that the absence ofmessages from the institutions affected by Indian Chronicles provided thespace and opportunity to reinvent itself.”
The current study reopens and builds upon the previous work, which wasdocumented in a report “Influencing policymakers with fake media outlets,an investigation into a pro-Indian influence networklink”.
*Report Compilation: Shafek Koreshe*