Crafty Indian hand
The continuing saga of New Zealand’s decision to cancel Pakistan’s tour took another turn on Wednesday as Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid presented evidence of “Indian involvement” in the threats leading up to the decision. The evidence shows that a widely quoted warning from former TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan of a Daesh attack on the New Zealand team actually originated from a fake Facebook account. That post became the source for a news report in an Indian newspaper owned by MJ Akbar — a former Modi cabinet minister and disgraced journalist accused of sexual harassment and rape by some 20 women over the past 30 years, including some well-established journalists.
The two ministers also said the article’s author had close ties with former Afghanistan vice president and Amrullah Saleh, who had been accused of backing anti-Pakistan terrorists during his time as the head of Afghan intelligence. Meanwhile, they said a threatening email sent by someone claiming to be “Tehreek-i-Labbaik” to the wife of a New Zealand player was sent from a newly created account on the secure Proton Mail service. Another threat from someone calling themselves “Hamza Afridi” came from a device in India using a virtual private network that made it appear that it originated in Singapore. The same device was associated with several fake email IDs, mostly spoofing Indian celebrities. The government has also approached Interpol for more information and assistance regarding the two email accounts.
However, while it is not beneath the Indian regime to attempt to malign and embarrass Pakistan, we must mention that some questions remain unanswered, including whether or not this was the threat that international media said the Five Eyes — an intelligence alliance comprising the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand — had warned Wellington about. If yes, the quality of Five Eyes intelligence would appear extremely suspect. If not, then we can expect another series of twists and turns before the full story becomes known.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 24th, 2021.
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