Disinformation campaign by India: Pakistan says will raise issue in global forums

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan accused India of funding a long running disinformation campaign against it on Friday and said it would raise the matter in global forums. In making its claim that India attempted to manipulate international bodies through fake news websites and organisations, Pakistan's foreign minister cited a report by European non-government organisation EU Disinfo Lab.

The report highlighted a network of hundreds of fake media outlets and organisations that it said have pushed a pro-India agenda in the European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN) bodies to discredit the country's rivals, in particular Pakistan.

"Today, India is manipulating and misusing the international system for its own nefarious designs," Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said at a press conference, adding that the Indian government was funding the network.

Qureshi called on the UN and UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to immediately investigate and de-list "10 fake NGOs created by India to malign Pakistan."

He also asked the European Union Parliament to begin an investigation into what he termed to be the manipulation of the body and its legislative process by "fake organisations involved in anti-Pakistan propaganda under a fully funded disinformation and influence operation, run by India."

New Delhi rejected the charges, saying it was Pakistan that was spreading disinformation.

"As a responsible democracy, India does not practice disinformation," Anurag Srivastava, India's foreign ministry spokesman, told a news conference.

The EU DisinfoLab report also said Indian press agency Asian News International (ANI) was the only press agency to extensively cover material from the disinformation network.

Qureshi accused ANI of amplifying propaganda against Pakistan, and he noted that the organisation had a partnership with Reuters, which, he said, was also being used to spread this information.

Reuters News, a unit of Thomson Reuters, has had a minority stake in ANI for more than two decades.

Reuters, in a statement responding to a request for comment, said it was "reviewing these allegations" in its capacity as a minority shareholder in ANI, but added that it has "no involvement" in ANI's editorial operations.

"As is the case with all our editorial partners and suppliers, we review ANI's raw, unedited video content shot within India, and exercise our own news judgment about what we distribute and publish," the statement said.

UNHRC spokesman Rolando Gomez said the organisation would look into these specific allegations, and that it was aware a number of accredited groups were pursuing their own political agenda or those of governments.

Delphine Colard, a European Parliament spokeswoman, said they were not aware of such a request made by Pakistan, but added: "We take very seriously any effort to misrepresent the positions of the European Parliament or its elected members."-Reuters

BR STAFF REPORTER ALI HUSSAIN FROM ISLAMABAD ADDS: "Pakistan rejects the Indian Ministry of External Affair's (MEA's) attempt to deny responsibility for the elaborate and reprehensible global disinformation campaign against Pakistan exposed by EU DisinfoLab," Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said, while responding to the statement by his Indian counterpart Anurag Srivastava who rejected the recent report of the EU DisinfoLab.

Chaudhri said the Indian MEA's tall claims have no legs to stand on, adding that the latest developments and international exposés have clearly shown that India is neither "responsible" nor a "democracy".

"We have already shared extensive and irrefutable evidence of India's active planning, promoting, aiding, abetting, financing and executing terrorist activities in Pakistan. The report by EU DisinfoLab goes to further corroborate our long-held position about India's incurable obsession with Pakistan and its unrelenting smear campaign against Pakistan," he asserted.

The spokesperson added: "We urge the UN Human Rights machinery, particularly the Human Rights Council (HRC), to take a serious look as to how a prestigious platform such as the HRC could be misused in such a manner against a member state."

He further stated that the relevant authorities in Switzerland and Belgium must investigate the finances and transparency of the relevant NGOs registered within their jurisdiction.

"We also reiterate our call that the EU authorities take full cognizance of this massive disinformation campaign against Pakistan and initiate steps to hold accountable those who misused their procedures and abused the European institutions," Chaudhri further asserted. For far too long, he added that India has masqueraded itself as a "victim" of terrorism.

It is time that the world saw the reality of India as a state-sponsor of terrorism and a purveyor of anti-Pakistan propaganda globally, he further stated.

He said that the latest revelations have established that no amount of Indian falsehoods can succeed in diverting attention from India's unspeakable crimes in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and in misleading the world community.

While countering India's state-terrorism and exposing its false narratives, the spokesperson added that Pakistan remains fully committed to supporting the Kashmiris in their legitimate struggle for the right to self-determination as per the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

Giving Indian response to the new investigations by the EU DisinfoLab, Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava maintained: "As a responsible democracy, India does not practice disinformation campaigns...In fact, if you are looking at disinformation, the best example is the country next door which is circulating fictional and fabricated dossiers and purveys a regular stream of fake news."

"Disinformation is practiced particularly by those who have records to hide such as sheltering international wanted terrorists including Osama bin Laden. And seek unsuccessfully to cover up their own tracks such as on the 26/11 Mumbai attack," Srivastava further maintained.

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