by Irfan Mahar 18 December 2020
Pakistan, for a long, has been trying to bring the Indian real face and its propaganda against Pakistan in front of the world but the international community does not give due attention towards Islamabad’s reservations against Indian propaganda. Recently, a report by EU DisinfoLab also exposed the Indian network which was designed to defame Pakistan internationally, influence decision-making at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR) and European Parliament. Moreover, the report said that the Delhi based Srivastava Group (SG) has been operating 265 pro-Indian sites across 65 countries to disseminate propaganda against Pakistan. The report named “Indian Chronicles: Deep Dive into a 15-Year Operation Targeting the EU and UN to Serve Indian Interests” further explains that SG and 10 UN-accredited NGOs including many other forums were promoting Indian interests and defaming Pakistan internationally through lobbying, organizing demonstrations, speaking during press conferences, propagating through media to make an anti-Pakistan narrative, etc. Furthermore, the report exposes that Asian News International (ANI), which is considered the biggest news agency in India that provides news to its multiple outlets, has been spreading anti-Pakistan perspective through using Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and ANI has direct links with SG. There are many fake think tanks, NGOs, and websites that are operated by SG such as EP Today and EU Chronicle that not only publish pro-Indian content to serve Indian interests but also maligning Pakistan’s image.
In this regard, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has been repeatedly telling the world about the Indian propaganda against Pakistan. Moreover, he emphasizes the international community to take notice of it but it does not bother to take serious actions against the Indian propaganda. Similarly, the PM of Pakistan Imran Khan at various forums such as in his UN General speech that India has been using its intelligence agencies and other forums to defame Pakistan. Moreover, responding to the EU DisinfoLab report Pakistan’s PM said that Islamabad through various means has consistently been trying to draw the attention of the international community about the spread of disinformation and propaganda to undermine democracies and export extremism through fake news agencies and bogus think tanks run and controlled by India. In this regard, the Pakistani PM urged the international community to take notice of the rogue Indian regime that is not only harmful to Pakistan but also for the stability of the global system.
Recently, the revelation by an independent source also indorses the Pakistani official stance over India propaganda against Pakistan that how Delhi has been engaged in such kind of dirty tasks to defame its neighbour. Moreover, Pakistan’s defence ministry and DG Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) have also been informing the Indian involvement and its propaganda against Pakistan for long but global forums and the world’s dominant nations have never taken it seriously. But now it is time for them to take severe actions against India as it could not even think about the propaganda and disinformation not only against Pakistan but also any country of the world. Such kind of propaganda and disinformation become the source of weakening the democratic structure/environment within various countries as well as become the reason for war and conflict among the nations which ultimately is harmful not only for involved countries but also for humanity throughout the world.
There are also many multimedia networks and forums which are influenced and exploited by the Indian government. Furthermore, Delhi uses these networks for spreading its agenda to get sympathies and favour internationally as well as nationally. There might be various countries that are working with India in collaboration for defaming and showing the bad image of Pakistan and China such as America, Japan, and many other nations that are their allies and have their economic and strategic interests. In this regard, the lead spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy at the European Commission, Peter Stano said “We first need to assess all the details contained in the research. But, what we can say already now is that this important report by EU DisinfoLab shows once again the vital importance of civil society, as well as the private sector, academic, and individual research activities in jointly confronting the diverse threat posed by disinformation and actors engaged in this malicious activity. We have recognized the disinformation as one of the hybrid threats that are targeting the European Union and are taking steps against the disinformation and actors engaged in spreading them”.
Yet there is no due response and action taken by the international community against New Delhi. In this regard, there are multiple views such as India is an ally of the American group which keeps much influence over global forums, NGOs, INGOs, and institutes. It is believed that if the same operation was run by Iran, China, Russia or any other anti-American entity world would have reacted differently and strictly through international outrage, leading to public inquiries and sanctions. The problem is not that Indian governments have been propagating against Pakistan but the real problem is the mentality and narrative which is kept by the people who spread such kind of disinformation to defame their opponents to get their benefits. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the international community to take severe actions against promoting such kind of mentality and narratives which are based on falsehood as the world could be made a safe and better place for humanity.
The writer is a Ph.D. scholar in the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan.