EU watchdog exposes Indian involvement in funding extremism: PM
PM Imran Khan addresses a gathering of his party's volunteer force – Tiger Force – in Islamabad on October 17. PHOTO: APP
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the latest EU DisinfoLab’s report exposing Indian influence campaign aimed at defaming Pakistan, vindicated Islamabad’s stance that New Delhi is involved in “undermining democracies and exporting and funding extremism”.
An independent non-profit organisation focused on tackling sophisticated disinformation has exposed the latest iteration of an Indian influence campaign aimed at defaming Pakistan within the EU institutions.
According to an investigation by the EU DisinfoLab, a Brussels-based NGO, a coordinated influence operation, to malign Pakistan’s reputation, is being led by the New Delhi-based Srivastava Group and amplified by Asia News International (ANI), an Indian news agency.
In a tweet from his official handle on Thursday, PM Imran said: “Pakistan has consistently drawn attention of int[ernational] community to India's subversive activities to undermine democracies in the region; and export/ fund extremism through structures of fake news orgs [organisations] & think tanks.”
He also referred to the dossier on Indian state-sponsored terrorism which Pakistan unveiled in November this year detailing “irrefutable evidences” of New Delhi’s involvement in terror attacks and its attempts to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The latest report said the operation’s mission is to discredit nations in conflict with India in the region, in particular, Pakistan and also China to a certain extent.
In total, DisinfoLab researchers believe the operation, which has been running for the past 15 years, has employed more 750 fake media outlets, and more than 550 domain names in 119 countries to reinforce pro-Indian and anti-Pakistan feelings.
While the websites have no direct links to the Indian government, researchers tracked them to a New Delhi-based organisation called the Srivastava Group.
“The revelations by @DisinfoEU on the widespread Indian network of subversive activities vindicates Pakistan's position and exposes its detractors,” the premier said in a follow-up tweet.
He also called upon the international community to take notice of a “rogue Indian regime that now threatens the stability of the global system”.