Pakistan urges EU, UN to probe Indian propaganda bid

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday called upon the United Nations and the European Union to hold an urgent investigation into India’s misuse and manipulation of the two prestigious international fora to malign Pakistan.

In a joint press briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf urged the top world bodies to take serious note of India’s malicious agenda, which had been recently exposed through the publication of Indian Chronicles.

The EU DisinfoLab recently issued its latest report titled “Indian Chronicles—Subsequent Investigation: Deep dive into a 15-year operation targeting EU and UN to serve Indian interests”, revealing a vast network of fake media outlets, think-tanks and NGOs involved in abuse of international organisations.

Qureshi said India had launched a smear campaign against Pakistan, but stressed that “truth could not be hidden for long”. He mentioned that Indian actors carrying out the latest malicious operation resurrected more than 10 defunct Human Rights Council-accredited NGOs registered with the names of deceased analysts and experts.

Besides those, he added, India created hundreds of fake journalists’ identities, generated more than 750 media outlets and registered more than 550 fake domain names to carry out anti-Pakistan activities.

Qureshi said the scope and extent of Indian operations against Pakistan under their hybrid war was now apparent before the world and vowed that “Pakistan will take all necessary actions to protect its interests”.

“We urge the UN human rights machinery particularly the UN Human Rights Council, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the relevant procedure mandate holders and human rights experts to take a serious look as to how a prestigious platform was misused,” he said.

He asked UN ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) and its NGO committee to scrutinise and make sure that the government-owned and sponsored organisations piloting disinformation and spreading fake news and hate were not given any space in UN platforms, especially Human Rights Council.

He also emphasised upon the UN and the UN Human Rights Council to immediately delist the 10 fake NGOs created by India to malign Pakistan. The foreign minister said the relevant authorities in Switzerland and Belgium should in particular investigate the finances and transparency of the relevant NGOs registered in their jurisdiction.

He called upon the EU authorities to take notice of India’s massive campaign against Pakistan and not let their legal framework institutions be abused in such a blatant manner.

“The EU parliament members, who were manipulated into writing op eds for fake media outlets or taken on trip to endorse the false Indian narrative of normalcy in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir must recognise India for what it is,” he said.

He said the EU Parliament must begin a credible investigation into its manipulation through fake organisations carrying out anti-Pakistan propaganda under a “fully-funded disinformation and influence operation run by India”.

He warned the world to take heed of the RSS-BJP regime’s agenda which threatened regional peace and continued to manipulate the international system for its own nefarious ends.

The foreign minister pointed that India was attempting to divert the attention of international community from its own horrendous human rights record and could carry out a false flag operation to cover up.

He mentioned that the government had issued directives to its missions to work on countering the persistent negative propaganda by India.

When he spoke, Dr Yusuf said India’s aim was to target Pakistan but Pakistan’s direction was focused on achieving “economic stability and peace”. He said the world needed to “update its narrative” by not listening to “India mafia” that violated international laws, some having penalty of 20 years sentence.

He said the government had already put forth irrefutable evidence extensively documenting India’s agenda and would continue to highlight it at every forum. Dr Yusuf mentioned that India Chronicles was continuation of the Report that had previously uncovered the Indian propaganda body carrying out anti-Pakistan activities and cyber warfare led by the Srivastava Group of India.

He recalled that in December 2019, the same lab published a report revealing an Indian woman who played a role in the European Union, which was later discovered as a project of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

The National Security Adviser said India used fake think-tanks to launch reports, got anti-Pakistan articles written by interns and used fake letterheads of EU to propagate its ill designs.

Dr Yusuf said the 80-page report revealed the same Srivastava Group as part of the same network as mentioned by Pakistan in the dossier earlier presented before the world. The group, he said, belonged to Indian intelligence agencies and mentioned that some Pakistanis also attended their events.

The NSA said similar networks were being used to carry out propaganda on Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan and spread false information. He said Pakistan was committed to ensure peace in Afghanistan, however India was putting in efforts to present a distorted image of the situation at international level. Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood was also present during the press conference.