Hundreds of fake news websites and NGOs linked to Indian entities were usedto spread propaganda against Pakistan internationally.
For years Pakistan has accused its archrival India of engaging in hybridwarfare which relies on a disinformation campaign to undermine Islamabad atinternational forums. Now it seems much of that is true.
The EU DisinfoLab has uncoveredlinkanetwork of NGOs and fake media organisations linked to India that for morethan a decade have been engaged in anti-Pakistan propaganda.
“It is the largest network we have exposed,” Alexandre Alaphilippe,executive director of EU DisinfoLab toldlink BBC after thereport “Indian Chronicles” was published on Wednesday.
Brussels-based DisinfoLab is a European NGO which aims to check thedisinformation targeting the European Union, its parliamentarians andpolicies.
In a sophisticated operation, much of which has been linked to the NewDelhi-based Srivastava Group, hundreds of fake media outlets, long-deadorganisations and stolen identities were used to paint Pakistan in anegative light in the EU and elsewhere, the report says.
While DisinfoLab says it has not found any connection between this campaignand the Indian state, Pakistan’s foreign office came out with a strongstatement.
“India not only spread disinformation but abused international institutionsin its desire to malign Pakistan,” it said.
The revelations could deepen tension further between the two neighbours whohave fought three wars and have come close to another full blown conflictlast year.
Resurrected to deceive
The DisinfoLab investigation found that at least ten long-defunct NGOs andindustry-related organisations were resurrected and used to lobby diplomatsat international forums, especially the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
For instance, the Commission to Study the Organisation of Peace (CDOP), anNGO that became inactive in the 1970s, was reactivated in the mid-2000s toorganise events on the sidelines of UN sessions and send representatives topanel discussions.
Its origin has been linked to Srivastava Group.
What will worry many in Islamabad is that the NGOs in question are UNaccredited, something which makes them appear legitimate.
The groups are also responsible for putting up “Free Balochistan” postersacross Geneva in 2017. Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province is facing aninsurgency, and India often highlights the human rights violations there todeviate attention from its own atrocities in Kashmir.
The International Club for Peace Research (ICPR), another dormant NGO thatfocuses on Africa, was resurrected in 2009 when it started to appear at theUNHRC sessions where Pakistan was targeted.
It was this so-called NGO which in 2012 issued a press release, distributedby Indian news agency DNA, demanding “enquiry into genocide in Bangladeshby Pakistani Army.”
“The (ICPR) website refers to promoting peace and to Mother Teresa in its“about us” section, lists past events and meetings related to peace andhuman rights in Africa, but its “news”, “pictures” and “demonstrations”sections are entirely about human rights in Pakistan,” DisinfoLab says.
The groups ostensibly lobby around issues that are sure to cause discontentwithin Pakistan.
“Generally, we found several other NGOs regularly covering the same issuesaround minorities in Pakistan, Balochistan, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.For a majority of these NGOs, these issues are not part of their originalmission,” it notes.
For instance, in the southern Sindh province there’s strong resentmentagainst the construction of upstream dams. But despite it being a domesticmatter, the World Sindhi Congress was invited by one of the groups at the2018 UNHRC to speak against the dam.
The report has also raised questions about the performance of UNbureaucracy as organisations set up to represent industry groups ended upin the hands of Indians and later used solely as tools to bash Pakistan.
Take for example the Canners International Permanent Committee (CIPC),which was established to promote the canning industry but stoppedfunctioning in 2007. It was later reactivated by the same Indian network.
“The core theme of the original NGO – “canned foods” – was totally divertedby Indian Chronicles to undermine Pakistan at the Human Rights Council,”says DisinfoLab.
Another interesting example is of the African Regional Agricultural CreditAssociation (ARACA), which instead of proposing ways to help farmers, hasused Geneva for anti-Pakistan activities.
A Pakistani dissident, Mehran Marri, also known as Mehran Baluch, who hasmore than 27,000 followers on Twitter, has spoken on behalf of ARACA.
Marri, who supports Balochistan’s secession from Pakistan, has also servedas the President of Balochistan House, an organisation linked to AnkitSrivastava of the Srivastava Group.
“NGOs tied to this ecosystem are also often represented by officialrepresentatives of minorities in Pakistan, who can be seen to speak fordifferent organizations,” notes DisinfoLab.
The media connection
The Indian disinformation network relies heavily on more than 700 fakemedia outlets to spread propaganda of the NGOs linked to Srivastava Group.
Fake news websites such as EU Chronicles, Japan Times Today, and ArizonaHerald, regularly published Pakistan-centric stories.
The DisinfoLab found that the Indian news wire agency, ANI, a partnerorganisation of Reuters, often helped magnify the stories published bythese outlets.
Once sent out by ANI, these stories were picked up by respectable mediagroups such as The Times of India and The Economic Times.
A glaring example of how the propaganda works can be seen in the 2017interview link the Pakistani diplomat HussainHaqqani published in another fake outlet, Times of Geneva.
The story titled ‘Baloch posters in Switzerland to isolate Pakistan’ waspicked up by ANI and forwarded to its subscribers. It ended up on thewebpages of Outlook India magazine and the Business Standard.