To cover a lie, falsify the roots. The web of fake news is “almost” real. Fraud appears to be authentic. Certified by credible institutions the farce becomes the “seeming” truth. The IndianLeaks as detailed by DisinfoLab of EU is a horror story of counterfeiting facts, stories, evidence on a scale that is stupendous and horrendous. It “almost trueness” is evident from the fact that it had run successfully for 15 years. It had scaled up to 270 countries. It had created 750 websites. It used names of top experts. It associated with the global world community. It created a series of verifications of its information that was based on another series of links that was based on another series of websites that made it “appear” respectabile. But at the end of the day a lie is a lie, no matter how elaborate, how well linked, how well stated, how well connected, or how well spread.
This is a unique revelation that is much more fact-based than any leaks before. These are not email leaks like WikiLeaks or hidden asset discovery like the Panama Leaks that some hacker brought to light through invasive journalism. These are research based, evidence backed, reference verified, data driven by specialists of EU Disinfo Lab. They have come public, with full ownership of the revealers. “It is the largest network we have exposed,” said Alexandre Alaphilippe, executive director of EU DisinfoLab, which undertook the investigation and published an extensive report on it. They clearly state the objective of this fraud network. The network was designed primarily to “discredit Pakistan internationally” and influence decision-making at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and European Parliament, said EU DisinfoLab. The question is that why did it take 15 years to uncover? Let us examine the longevity of the campaign against Pakistan by the Indian propaganda network:
Design Complexities-Brain normally focuses and absorbs simple things. What the data networks have done is that they have created an intricate information overload. This information plethora has made information seekers seek short- cuts to select and process news. The average person will hardly check a couple of links to verify while the above average person will probably go to the length of delving into 5 to 7 links. There were layers and layers of reports, articles, websites, statements, coming from all over the world reinforcing the same message of Pakistan being the terror hub, human rights violator etc. India created hundreds of fake journalist identities, generated more than 750 media outlets and registered more than 550 fake domain names. Indian news agency, ANI, repackaged and amplified the malicious content produced in Brussels and Geneva. They used defunct sites, dead professors and distant links to create this world of virtual reality against Pakistan.
News authenticity- To create credibility they needed the news to be said and endorsed by brands of worth. These included people and institutions of a certain level and stature. The fact that the EU and UN are names synonymous with global laws and rights helped them to create an effect of international affirmations. The Srivastava Group (SG) that spearheaded this campaign and at least 10 UN-accredited NGOs, along with several others were used to promote Indian interests and criticize Pakistan internationally. This would win the Indian-backed Srivastava Group speaking space on influential forums. An example of this was in March 2019, during the UNHRC’s 40th session. United Schools International (USI), another UN-accredited organisation with direct links to SG, allowed its slot to be used by Yoana Barakova. He is a research analyst with an Amsterdam-based think-tank called the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) who spoke about “atrocities committed by Pakistan” during the session.
Pakistani endorsements - The SG network would also use sponsored Pakistanis abroad or locally who may be working in think tanks in the US, etc, or media to support the “terrible state” of terrorism, democracy, human rights in Pakistan. Researches published by think tank researchers that twisted the facts were packaged in a way that created believability. This content was further reproduced on more than 500 fake media websites across 95 countries. This was then quoted by sympathetic members of parliament on important forums. Their statements were carried forward by real media and spread all over the world through 500 fake media websites that were too many to be fact-checked extensively.
With Narendra Modi’s ideology matching Adolf Hitler’s world view of lying till it is the truth, this operation had become more aggressive in the last 6 years. Modi’s election campaign in 2014 and 2019 was based on anti-Pakistan hate theme. Being an old RSS pracharak Modi has strong faith in power of propaganda. Hitler believed that the enemy had to be dealt with through propaganda which must not investigate the truth objectively, insofar as it is favorable to its side.
In the era of social media another technique employed by BJP IT cell is astroturfing. Astroturfing is the deceptive practice of presenting an orchestrated marketing or public relations campaign in the guise of unsolicited comments from the members of the public. Astroturf is a cosmetic covering of floor giving the impact of even grass. The Indians target vulnerable people in unrest areas. The Balochistan Liberation Movement in Balochistan and the Pakhtoon Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in northern areas are classic examples of movements provoked and sponsored through RAW spies like Kulbhushan or via Afghan facilitating networks.
This is a real opportunity for Pakistan to take the case against India to the world. Pakistan does not have the scale or the resources to match Indian fraud capacity. What it needs to do is to form a three-pronged strategy to splash Indian fake news manufacturing factories. Firstly, it needs to form a legal stand to pursue some cases of libel and defamation against Indian fake news in selective international courts. Secondly, it needs to approach all international institutions like the UN, UNHR, etc, for protests against supporting planted reports against Pakistan of many NGOs accredited by the UN. Thirdly, run a very comprehensive social media campaign through a professional PR firm on writing, making videos, etc, to reach the opinion makers in the world to raise a voice against the cyber atrocities of India. The world has changed and so has warfare. There may be ceasefire on Pakistan-India borders but the 5th generation war is an invisible ceaseless fire without borders. According to Sun Tzu, “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
(The writer is can be reached at [email protected])
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
The writer is a columnist, consultant, coach, and an analyst and can be reached at [email protected]
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