Disinformation wars

In this day and age, it has become more and more possible to manipulate the media and highlight certain news stories in a way intended to damage other countries. According to reports, which were first taken up by this publication in 2017, and now confirmed by investigative reporting from Geneva, India has been engaged in manufacturing fraudulent news in an extremely sophisticated way for years. This news is directed chiefly against Pakistan, but also mentions China.

The methodology used is interesting but also frightening. The Indians seem to have used reports, grievances and internal crises in Pakistan and manipulated these for its own interests. And it has done this by using literally fake publications, such as the Geneva Times and others. The news from these publications is then highlighted in India by their massive Indian news agency, ANI and then picked up by EU parliamentarians who talk about it at various forums, no doubt not at all realising what trap they have fallen into. The news items are deliberately circulated to both EU parliamentarians and members of the UN, who are either fooled by it or may even have some pressure to make these as public as possible. The result, of course, is immense damage to Pakistan and its image. It also explains why so many people seem to support India, despite the terrible atrocities committed by the Indian regime both within and in the Kashmiri territories it has forcibly occupied. These atrocities have been picked up by UN special rapporteurs in a letter sent to the Indian government initially in February, and then again in October expressing concern over the violation of basic civil rights, including those of Muslims protesting peacefully in India. Atrocities against other human rights activists have also been mentioned in these letters.

There has been no answer from the Indian government. But the disinformation cell putting out the malafide information remains active. It's only now that we have full details how it works by operating through NGOs which are fictional and are used only to disseminate information or to invite dignitaries to New Delhi and show them selected images of the country. This situation is very obviously extremely dangerous and also a very real reflection of the post-truth world we currently live in. While espionage, information wars and propaganda are hardly anything new, the accessibility of social media narratives makes this new-age disinformation campaign so much more potent. It also has the danger to further dent the credibility of journalism. The only way out is more freedom for the press so that authentic, well-researched real journalism strangles the breathing space for such tools. This is a new challenge for both consumers and producers of news.