EU DisinfoLab report: India should be held responsible for spoiling opinion: Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has urged the world community to act upon the revelations made by the EU DisinfoLab in its December 09, 2020 report with regard to India by misusing international reputable organizations for its malicious propaganda against Pakistan.

Speaking at a webinar, organized by the Institute of Regional Studies, Islamabad on the latest report by the EU DisinfoLab, Qureshi said that the Brussels-based independent non-governmental organization in its second report released on December 9, 2020 revealed how India has been engaged in a nefarious conspiracy to defame Pakistan internationally through fake propaganda by showing fake NGOs, fake websites, and even dead people alive.

He said that revelations of the EU DisinfoLab, corroborates Pakistan’s long-held position about India’s incurable obsession with Pakistan. The foreign minister urged the EU authorities to take notice of massive campaign against Pakistan and not to let their legal frameworks and institutions to be misused.

He called upon the world to take heed of the RSS-BJP regime’s agenda which threatens regional peace and continues to manipulate the international system for its own nefarious ends.

He said that the Indian network has been producing false material against Pakistan in major cities of the world including Brussels and Geneva. He said that the report revealed that the material based on false and misleading information against Pakistan was being advertised by India’s largest news agency ANI, from where the false news was spread to other media houses.

He added that the report revealed that the dark web was spread across 116 countries for which 10 fictitious NGOs were used while the names of the European Union Organizations were used fraudulently and the names of fake journalists were used for its malicious and baseless propaganda.

In its first report, Qureshi added that the EU DisinfoLab revealed the name of “EP today” Magazine, which was asserting its identity as an EU media outlet, was linked down following the initial report, while there are reports that it has been republished under the name of “EU Chronicles”.

He said that the fake network was run by the Srivastava Group from India and according to the latest report, Madi Sharma was active in running the network under the name of “Women’s Economic and Social Think Tank” in the EU and Geneva.

“The report makes it clear that India’s campaign to discredit Pakistan globally is endless. The motives behind this false global conspiracy against Pakistan were to tarnish Pakistan’s image with regard to its position on issue of Jammu and Kashmir, terrorism, human rights and its case before the Financial Action Task Force (FATF),” he added.

He said that India through this malicious campaign misused the names of reputable UN agencies, adding that New Delhi also used think tanks, researchers and students to spread false propaganda against Pakistan. “We kept the international community informed of India’s false and baseless propaganda against Pakistan. We have presented irrefutable evidence of Indian planning, backing and supporting of terrorism inside Pakistan through a dossier to the world,” he added.

He added that the Indian journalist, Arnab Goswami’s WhatsApp chat has further exposed India’s nefarious intentions against Pakistan. “We call on the international community to take note of this systematic conspiracy by India to defame Pakistan internationally,” he added.

He said that the High Representative of the European Union has already been informed through a letter and Pakistan’s Ambassador in Brussels is contacting European Parliamentarians and European institutions to keep them updated on the Indian conspiracy. He said that Pakistan’s permanent delegates to the United Nations in Geneva are briefing the human rights machinery on these Indian intentions. In Switzerland and Belgium, he added that relevant authorities have been contacted and asked to investigate the funds and remittances of the fake NGOs disclosed by the EU DisinfoLab.

“We urge the international community to stop India, the claimant of the self-proclaimed largest democracy, from committing serious human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, mistreatment of minorities, especially Muslims, hostility towards its neighbors,” he said, adding that India should be held responsible for crimes such as spoiling the international public opinion.

The foreign minister also urged the international community to stop India from spreading false propaganda against Pakistan, adding that Pakistan will continue its efforts until India is held accountable for these crimes.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021