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Featured Indian Chronicles: deep dive into a 15-year operation targeting the EU and UN to serve Indian interests

Propaganda is one thing, to influence domestic popularity. But propaganda aimed at decision-makers in other nations is a blatant intervention in others' internal affairs.


R&AW at work.
 
Asma Jahangir & Husain Haqqani attended several events organized by fake NGO & lobby groups created by Indian intelligence agencies in EU. She also gave interviews to Times of Geneva, a now defunct Indian state sponsored fake news outlet.
Waiting for SAATHI FORUM to get exposed!
Pakistani libtards are traitors beyond repair.
They should be discarded and throw in the gutters.
 
Ok, so there may or may not be a network. But what's the so-called "disinformation"? I.e. What's the allegation - if any lies have been spread, what are those lies?
 

EU Non-Profit Unearths Massive Indian Disinformation Campaign
The revelations show how India seeks to spread disinformation, leveraging identify theft and murky media networks.
Abhijnan Rej

By Abhijnan Rej
December 10, 2020
EU Non-Profit Unearths Massive Indian Disinformation Campaign

Credit: Flickr/Valerie EverettADVERTISEMENT

A European non-profit organization specializing in combating disinformation targeting the European Union has unearthed a massive campaign orchestrated by an Indian entity to spread disinformation, mainly around Pakistan. In a report released on December 9, EU DisinfoLab claimed that a 15-year old operation, which started in 2005, had used more than 10 United Nations Human Rights Council affiliated non-governmental organizations, misappropriation of names of EU politicians and more than 750 fake media outlets “to discredit nations in conflict with India in Asia, in particular Pakistan but also China to a lesser extent.”

The EU DisinfoLab points out to four elements of the operation led by the Srivastava Group, a New Delhi-based entity of obscure provenance: support for human rights NGOs; appropriating the names of EU members of parliament “to create a mirage of institutional support from European institutions”; leveraging the United Nations’ Human Rights Council in Geneva; and finally, creation of fake media outlets in Europe and across the world whose “reporting” is picked up by Asian News International (ANI), a mainstream Indian news agency, and media networks in at least 97 countries to amplify anti-Pakistan and pro-India content.

EU DisinfoLab believes that the operation is ongoing.

The Srivastava Group first appeared in the public eye last year when news surfaced that it was behind an equally obscure think tank, the International Institute of Non-Aligned Studies, that funded a Kashmir trip for certain Members of European Parliament (MEP), mostly from the far right, after the August decision of the Narendra Modi government to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s constitutionally protected autonomy.

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What raised eyebrows at that time was that even when this ostensibly private delegation of MEPs was visiting Kashmir amid a harsh security crackdown, India’s opposition leaders were not being allowed to visit the region, while Jammu and Kashmir’s politicians – including former chief ministers – were imprisoned. Access to the region for foreign embassies in New Delhi was also restricted. Stunningly, the delegation had also met with Modi and India’s National Security Adviser – and old intelligence hand – Ajit Doval in New Delhi.

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While EU DisinfoLab has not found any evidence of a direct involvement of Indian intelligence services in the disinformation campaign, prominent Indian media outlets have pointed out the mysterious modus operandi of the Srivastava Group, with offices in Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada. Quite simply, the group looks like a (poorly masked) cutout acting at behest of Indian state actors to maintain a plausible veneer of deniability.

It is likely that the campaign unearthed by EUDisinfo Lab is only tip of the iceberg, as India aggressively – but often amateurishly – acts to shape global conversations around Pakistan and Kashmir. That effort includes dedicated campaigns – bordering on spamming editors – to place stories favorable to New Delhi’s point of view in global outlets, in one instance bearing the byline of a prominent Indian politician but not submitted by the individual or their office.

While it is important to keep in mind that such campaigns predate the Modi government by many years (the Srivastava Group operation started when the center-left coalition government led by Manmohan Singh was in power), it has enthusiastically taken to promoting its point of view abroad through non-governmental channels. Speaking at an event around the Indian diaspora on December 9, Minister of State for External Affairs & Parliamentary Affairs V. Muraleedharan described it as “bridges, mediators, facilitators, lobby and advocacy groups for taking primacy of India’s national security and economic interests and soft power projection,” language that will likely raise more than a few eyebrows in many Western capitals.

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In August this year, the U.S. wing of the Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP-USA) registered with the U.S. Justice Department as a foreign agent under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). According to the OFBJP-USA certificate of incorporation, one of its stated goals is to “work towards projecting a positive and correct image of India and its people in the U.S. and foreign media, and correct any distortions in the media’s reporting of current events taking place in India.”

A recent book by a former Research and Analysis Wing chief, Vikram Sood, details historical examples of how secret services shape global narratives, where Sood points out the Central Intelligence Agency’s crucial role in this regard during the Cold War.

But at the moment, most of this ideation is – as with many things Indian – largely aspirational. As Praveen Swami, an Indian journalist well known for his coverage of sensitive intelligence issues, sardonically commented on Twitter earlier today about the EU DisinfoLab report, “I hope someone in the Indian spook world actually audits the yields on these so-called operations: IMHO, these silly India-Pakistan propaganda games have achieved zip and will achieve zip.”


 


Following a preliminary investigation published in 2019, the EU DisinfoLab uncovered a massive operation targeting international institutions and serving Indian interests. “Indian Chronicles” – the name we gave to this operation – resurrected dead media, dead think-tanks and NGOs. It even resurrected dead people. This network is active in Brussels and Geneva in producing and amplifying content to undermine – primarily – Pakistan.

You can read the summary of our investigation as well as our full report by clicking on the links below

Download our Executive Summary
Download our Full Report
The present study reopens and builds upon our previous work, which is documented in our report “Influencing policymakers with fake media outlets, an investigation into a pro-Indian influence network”. We encourage readers to consult the first investigation before diving into this one.

Indian-Chronicles-cover.png

Key facts
In a nutshell, Indian Chronicles is:

  • a 15 year-long operation running since 2005;
  • 10+ UN Human Rights Council accredited NGOs, mostly resurrected;
  • The resurrection of Prof. Louis B. Sohn, a prominent figure in human rights, deceased in 2006;
  • Several identity thefts, including the name of Martin Schulz, former president of the European Parliament or the photo of James Purnell, a former UK Government minister;
  • 750+ fake media outlets, covering 119 countries;
  • 550+ domain names registered.
Summary of the 15-year influence operation
Our open-source investigation shows that the operation led by the Srivastava Group and amplified by ANI began in 2005 and is still ongoing at this date.

The operation’s mission is to discredit nations in conflict with India in Asia, in particular Pakistan but also China to a lesser extent. Its long-term objective is:

  • In India, to reinforce pro-Indian and anti-Pakistan (and anti-Chinese) feelings.
  • Internationally, to consolidate the power and improve the perception of India, to damage the reputation of other countries and ultimately benefit from more support from international institutions such as the EU and the UN.
To do so, the operation consists of:

  • The support to minority and human rights NGOs and think-tanks.
  • The use of Members of the European Parliament to create a mirage of institutional support from European institutions to these minority groups, in favour of Indian interests and against Pakistan (and China).
  • An active presence in Geneva and the United Nations’ Human Rights Council through:
    • side-events and demonstrations in support of minority rights;
    • impersonation of extinguished UN-accredited NGOs or use speaking slots reserved to various NGOs whose original missions seem totally unrelated.
  • The creation of fake media in Brussels, Geneva and across the world and/or the repackaging and dissemination via ANI and obscure local media networks – at least in 97 countries – to multiply the repetition of online negative content about countries in conflict with India, in particular Pakistan.
Indian Chronicles: Case reopened
During our previous investigation, we decided to leave some of the websites, domain names and associated email addresses that deserved a closer look for later. Over the last months, we took a deeper dive, with a specific focus on the Commission to Study the Organization of Peace (CSOP).

We soon realised that this US-based NGO – accredited to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) – had become inactive in the late 1970s before being resurrected in 2005. Its identity had been hijacked by the same actors depicted in our first investigation. Shockingly, we discovered that the organisation had not only been revived. Its former Chairman and “grandfather of international law in the US”, Louis B. Sohn, who passed away in 2006, seemingly attended a UN Human Rights Council meeting in 2007 and participated in an event organised by “Friends of Gilgit-Baltistan” in Washington D.C. in 2011.

Advocacy in Geneva: outside and inside the United Nations Human Rights Council
From then on, we uncovered an entire network of coordinated UN-accredited NGOs promoting Indian interests and criticizing Pakistan repeatedly. We could tie at least 10 of them directly to the Srivastava family, with several other dubious NGOs pushing the same messages.

These UN-accredited NGOs work in coordination with non-accredited think-tanks and minority-rights NGOs in Brussels and Geneva. Several of them – like the European Organization for Pakistani Minorities (EOPM), Baluchistan House and the South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF) – were directly but opaquely created by the Srivastava group. In Geneva, these think-tanks and NGOs are in charge of lobbying, organising demonstrations and speaking during press conferences and UN side-events. They were repeatedly given the floor at the UN on behalf of the accredited organisations.

Geneva.png
Resurrection of UN-accredited NGOs and the hijacking of causes
Our investigation led to the finding of 10 UN-accredited NGOs directly controlled by the Srivastava Group, which our full report introduces at length. Their common trait? The fact that they all rose from the ashes of real NGOs. Indian Chronicles effectively benefited from the track record of these organisations while pursuing their own agenda: discrediting Pakistan and promoting Indian interests at UN conferences and hearings.

As we looked into the history of these NGOs, it quickly became clear that the topics and issues at their very heart are not much of a concern for Indian Chronicles. The operation takes just about any defunct NGO it can find and revives it to promote Indian interests. Examples include organisations defending peace, protecting the environment or even… promoting canned food.

Before it ceased to exist in 2007, the Canners International Permanent Committee (CIPC) was all about the canning industry. Its reincarnation does not seem so concerned with food anymore: It mostly dispatches Geneva-based students to the UN to talk about Pakistan, and even organised side events on human rights at the UN.

NGO_UN.png
Lobbying in Brussels: Using Members of the European Parliament through an online EU affairs honeypot
The organisations created by the Srivastava Group in Brussels organised trips for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to Kashmir, Bangladesh and the Maldives. Some of these trips led to much institutional controversy, as the delegations of MEPs were often presented as official EU delegations when they were in fact not travelling on behalf of the Parliament.

The actors orchestrating Indian Chronicles are directly tied – and again not at all transparently – to the creation of three informal groups in the European Parliament, namely the “South Asia Peace Forum”, the “Baloch Forum” and “Friends of Gilgit-Baltistan”. They have organised press conferences and events within and in front of the European Parliament.

Organisations like WESTT – the Women Economic and Social Think-Tank – have drafted and suggested parliamentary questions to the European Commission, along with articles for fake EU magazines such as EP Today. These served as a honeypot to attract a growing number of MEPs into a pro-India and anti-Pakistan discourse, often using causes such as minorities rights and women’s rights as an entry point.

This is how we uncovered EU Chronicle – the new “EP Today”. A new fake media with fake journalists supposedly covering European affairs, yet essentially providing a platform for MEPs to sign pro-Indian articles. In less than 6 months of existence, already 11 MEPs have written or endorsed op-eds at a remarkably high pace for EU Chronicle.

EuChronicle.png
The role of ANI: Repackaging and amplifying the content produced in Brussels & Geneva
Back to EU Chronicle. The only valuable coverage these op-eds receive, comes from an immediate repackaging by an Indian press agency named ANI (Asian News International), often quoting these op-eds as genuine articles from “independent media EU Chronicle”. Without Times of Geneva and 4 News Agency which stopped their activities following our previous investigation, ANI – which is considered as one of the biggest news agencies in India and the largest television agency of India – remains the only press agency to extensively cover the activities of dubious NGOs in Geneva.

The coverage – and often distortion – by ANI of the content produced in Brussels and Geneva led us to the Big News Network and the World News Network – an entire network of 500+ fake local media in 95 countries that have helped reproduce negative iterations about Pakistan (or China). We also realised that the content produced was primarily targeted at Indian nationals, with an extensive coverage of these barely known “media”, MEPs and “NGOs” in Europe.

Essentially, our investigation details how the activities of a fake zombie-NGO and that of a fake specialised media can be repackaged, distorted and amplified by malicious actors to influence or disinform globally, using loopholes in international institutions and online search engines.

Distrotion.png
Indian Chronicles and EP Today: the same modus operandi
As in our first investigation, we could observe these patterns:

  • Extensive use of student interns, here speaking at the United Nations on behalf of one or more of these NGOs;
  • Resurrection of shuttered organisations (NGOs, media) and deceased persons (Louis B. Sohn);
  • Use of Regus virtual office addresses or simply fake addresses whenever an address was needed;
  • Misleading representation of the views of individual MEPs as general support or official position from the European Union;
  • Maximisation of negative content about Pakistan online, primarily using a network of fake local media across the world.
The actors behind EP Today and EU Chronicle registered 550+ domain names of NGOs, think-tanks, media, European Parliament informal groups, religious and Imam organizations, obscure publishing companies and public personalities. A non-negligeable proportion of domain names were bought in the context of the cyberwarfare with Pakistan, to cybersquat on domains that Pakistan might later wish to use.

Every researcher working on disinformation is confronted by the issue of measuring the impact of a disinformation campaign. Indian Chronicles’ 15-year operation certainly does not disappoint in this regard. It has supported:

  • Several demonstrations in Brussels and Geneva;
  • The display of “free Baluchistan” posters across Geneva;
  • The organisation of several events inside the European Parliament;
  • The creation of support groups within the European Parliament;
  • The influencing of European and International policy making;
  • The convocation of the Swiss ambassador in Pakistan by the Pakistani government;
  • The trips of delegations of Members of the European Parliament to Bangladesh, the Maldives and Kashmir that led to much controversy in Brussels.
Summary.png
Policy recommendations
We are alarmed to see the continuation of Indian Chronicles which – despite our first report and wide press coverage – has pursued its 15-year long operation and even recently launched EU Chronicle, a fake EU outlet. This should serve as a call to action for decision-makers to put in place a relevant framework to sanction actors abusing our international institutions. It is possible that the absence of messages from the institutions affected by Indian Chronicles provided the space and opportunity for the operation to reinvent itself and to continue doing “more of the same”.

It is also our belief that the possibility for malicious actors to abuse search engines by reproducing the same content hundreds of times should also be challenged.

Our investigation relied heavily on the analysis of websites and domain names, rather than online platforms. Much of what we uncovered could be found thanks to website domain names registration history and because many websites of Indian Chronicles were created at a time when malicious actors were less concerned with privacy. Nowadays, malicious actors register domain names and create websites anonymously, making detection more difficult. The regulatory discussion on data transparency from platforms now taking place should be broadened to include greater scrutiny of domain names. Domain name information is critical for disinformation researchers; we therefore advocate for sufficient transparency for researchers investigating malicious domains. We also urge the domain name industry to seriously reflect on this kind of fraudulent, disinforming behaviour as technical abuse of the domain name system.

About our drive
Every investigation sees disinformation researchers faced with similar questions: Why did you work on disinformation from this and not that country? Are you funded by the enemy of my country? Do you realise that when investigating this matter, you are considering only one side of disinformation? Why don’t you study the other side?

The fact is, we never intended to work on South-Asia related matters. It all began when we read a publication by the European External Action Service (EEAS) about EP Today syndicating content from RT. And this led us to publish these two investigations.

Keeping the record straight
We are well aware – as it is the case for every investigation – that our work will be used and recuperated by those who have an interest in seeing it published. In this case, probably Pakistani authorities.

Let us bear in mind that it is not because one side uses dodgy influence campaigns that the other side does not: A simple Google search will lead you to read about inauthentic behaviours supporting Pakistani interests.

More importantly, our investigation is in no way a judgement of the situation of human rights in Pakistan, nor should it serve to undermine the credibility of minority movements in Pakistan. Our report simply shines a light on how Indian stakeholders have used these issues to serve their own interests. We are convinced that “there is no such thing as good disinformation”, and we would agree with a key actor of Indian Chronicles – namely Madi Sharma – who recently tweeted: “Your ethical muscle grows stronger every time you choose right over wrong.”

 
94158_IndiaModi_1607613651099.jpg

  1. NEWS
  2. MAGAZINE
The staggering scale of India’s anti-Pakistan propaganda machine
  • 10 DEC 2020

What would you like to learn more about?
Topics
Related
Popular


Hundreds of fake news websites and NGOs linked to Indian entities were used to spread propaganda against Pakistan internationally.
For years Pakistan has accused its archrival India of engaging in hybrid warfare which relies on a disinformation campaign to undermine Islamabad at international forums. Now it seems much of that is true.
The EU DisinfoLab has uncovered a network of NGOs and fake media organisations linked to India that for more than a decade have been engaged in anti-Pakistan propaganda.
"It is the largest network we have exposed," Alexandre Alaphilippe, executive director of EU DisinfoLab told the BBC after the report “Indian Chronicles” was published on Wednesday.
Brussels-based DisinfoLab is a European NGO which aims to check the disinformation targeting the European Union, its parliamentarians and policies.
In a sophisticated operation, much of which has been linked to the New Delhi-based Srivastava Group, hundreds of fake media outlets, long-dead organisations and stolen identities were used to paint Pakistan in a negative light in the EU and elsewhere, the report says.

While DisinfoLab says it has not found any connection between this campaign and the Indian state, Pakistan’s foreign office came out with a strong statement.
“India not only spread disinformation but abused international institutions in its desire to malign Pakistan,” it said.
The revelations could deepen tension further between the two neighbours who have fought three wars and have come close to another full blown conflict last year.
Resurrected to deceive
The DisinfoLab investigation found that at least ten long-defunct NGOs and industry-related organisations were resurrected and used to lobby diplomats at international forums, especially the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
For instance, the Commission to Study the Organisation of Peace (CDOP), an NGO that became inactive in the 1970s, was reactivated in the mid-2000s to organise events on the sidelines of UN sessions and send representatives to panel discussions.
Its origin has been linked to Srivastava Group.

What will worry many in Islamabad is that the NGOs in question are UN accredited, something which makes them appear legitimate.
The groups are also responsible for putting up “Free Balochistan” posters across Geneva in 2017. Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province is facing an insurgency, and India often highlights the human rights violations there to deviate attention from its own atrocities in Kashmir.
The International Club for Peace Research (ICPR), another dormant NGO that focuses on Africa, was resurrected in 2009 when it started to appear at the UNHRC sessions where Pakistan was targeted.
It was this so-called NGO which in 2012 issued a press release, distributed by Indian news agency DNA, demanding “enquiry into genocide in Bangladesh by Pakistani Army.”
“The (ICPR) website refers to promoting peace and to Mother Teresa in its “about us” section, lists past events and meetings related to peace and human rights in Africa, but its “news”, “pictures” and “demonstrations” sections are entirely about human rights in Pakistan,” DisinfoLab says.
The groups ostensibly lobby around issues that are sure to cause discontent within Pakistan.
“Generally, we found several other NGOs regularly covering the same issues around minorities in Pakistan, Balochistan, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. For a majority of these NGOs, these issues are not part of their original mission,” it notes.
For instance, in the southern Sindh province there’s strong resentment against the construction of upstream dams. But despite it being a domestic matter, the World Sindhi Congress was invited by one of the groups at the 2018 UNHRC to speak against the dam.
The report has also raised questions about the performance of UN bureaucracy as organisations set up to represent industry groups ended up in the hands of Indians and later used solely as tools to bash Pakistan.
Take for example the Canners International Permanent Committee (CIPC), which was established to promote the canning industry but stopped functioning in 2007. It was later reactivated by the same Indian network.
“The core theme of the original NGO – “canned foods” - was totally diverted by Indian Chronicles to undermine Pakistan at the Human Rights Council,” says DisinfoLab.
Another interesting example is of the African Regional Agricultural Credit Association (ARACA), which instead of proposing ways to help farmers, has used Geneva for anti-Pakistan activities.
A Pakistani dissident, Mehran Marri, also known as Mehran Baluch, who has more than 27,000 followers on Twitter, has spoken on behalf of ARACA.
Marri, who supports Balochistan’s secession from Pakistan, has also served as the President of Balochistan House, an organisation linked to Ankit Srivastava of the Srivastava Group.
“NGOs tied to this ecosystem are also often represented by official representatives of minorities in Pakistan, who can be seen to speak for different organizations,” notes DisinfoLab.
The media connection
The Indian disinformation network relies heavily on more than 700 fake media outlets to spread propaganda of the NGOs linked to Srivastava Group.
Fake news websites such as EU Chronicles, Japan Times Today, and Arizona Herald, regularly published Pakistan-centric stories.
The DisinfoLab found that the Indian news wire agency, ANI, a partner organisation of Reuters, often helped magnify the stories published by these outlets.
Once sent out by ANI, these stories were picked up by respectable media groups such as The Times of India and The Economic Times.
A glaring example of how the propaganda works can be seen in the 2017 interview of the Pakistani diplomat Hussain Haqqani published in another fake outlet, Times of Geneva.
The story titled ‘Baloch posters in Switzerland to isolate Pakistan’ was picked up by ANI and forwarded to its subscribers. It ended up on the webpages of Outlook India magazine and the Business Standard.

 
Their alleged propaganda efforts are minuscule compared to many other countries, and one particular in their neighborhood. I say propaganda is far better than mayhem and murder.
 
94158_IndiaModi_1607613651099.jpg

  1. NEWS
  2. MAGAZINE
The staggering scale of India’s anti-Pakistan propaganda machine
  • 10 DEC 2020

What would you like to learn more about?
Topics
Related
Popular


Hundreds of fake news websites and NGOs linked to Indian entities were used to spread propaganda against Pakistan internationally.
For years Pakistan has accused its archrival India of engaging in hybrid warfare which relies on a disinformation campaign to undermine Islamabad at international forums. Now it seems much of that is true.
The EU DisinfoLab has uncovered a network of NGOs and fake media organisations linked to India that for more than a decade have been engaged in anti-Pakistan propaganda.
"It is the largest network we have exposed," Alexandre Alaphilippe, executive director of EU DisinfoLab told the BBC after the report “Indian Chronicles” was published on Wednesday.
Brussels-based DisinfoLab is a European NGO which aims to check the disinformation targeting the European Union, its parliamentarians and policies.
In a sophisticated operation, much of which has been linked to the New Delhi-based Srivastava Group, hundreds of fake media outlets, long-dead organisations and stolen identities were used to paint Pakistan in a negative light in the EU and elsewhere, the report says.

While DisinfoLab says it has not found any connection between this campaign and the Indian state, Pakistan’s foreign office came out with a strong statement.
“India not only spread disinformation but abused international institutions in its desire to malign Pakistan,” it said.
The revelations could deepen tension further between the two neighbours who have fought three wars and have come close to another full blown conflict last year.
Resurrected to deceive
The DisinfoLab investigation found that at least ten long-defunct NGOs and industry-related organisations were resurrected and used to lobby diplomats at international forums, especially the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
For instance, the Commission to Study the Organisation of Peace (CDOP), an NGO that became inactive in the 1970s, was reactivated in the mid-2000s to organise events on the sidelines of UN sessions and send representatives to panel discussions.
Its origin has been linked to Srivastava Group.

What will worry many in Islamabad is that the NGOs in question are UN accredited, something which makes them appear legitimate.
The groups are also responsible for putting up “Free Balochistan” posters across Geneva in 2017. Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province is facing an insurgency, and India often highlights the human rights violations there to deviate attention from its own atrocities in Kashmir.
The International Club for Peace Research (ICPR), another dormant NGO that focuses on Africa, was resurrected in 2009 when it started to appear at the UNHRC sessions where Pakistan was targeted.
It was this so-called NGO which in 2012 issued a press release, distributed by Indian news agency DNA, demanding “enquiry into genocide in Bangladesh by Pakistani Army.”
“The (ICPR) website refers to promoting peace and to Mother Teresa in its “about us” section, lists past events and meetings related to peace and human rights in Africa, but its “news”, “pictures” and “demonstrations” sections are entirely about human rights in Pakistan,” DisinfoLab says.
The groups ostensibly lobby around issues that are sure to cause discontent within Pakistan.
“Generally, we found several other NGOs regularly covering the same issues around minorities in Pakistan, Balochistan, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. For a majority of these NGOs, these issues are not part of their original mission,” it notes.
For instance, in the southern Sindh province there’s strong resentment against the construction of upstream dams. But despite it being a domestic matter, the World Sindhi Congress was invited by one of the groups at the 2018 UNHRC to speak against the dam.
The report has also raised questions about the performance of UN bureaucracy as organisations set up to represent industry groups ended up in the hands of Indians and later used solely as tools to bash Pakistan.
Take for example the Canners International Permanent Committee (CIPC), which was established to promote the canning industry but stopped functioning in 2007. It was later reactivated by the same Indian network.
“The core theme of the original NGO – “canned foods” - was totally diverted by Indian Chronicles to undermine Pakistan at the Human Rights Council,” says DisinfoLab.
Another interesting example is of the African Regional Agricultural Credit Association (ARACA), which instead of proposing ways to help farmers, has used Geneva for anti-Pakistan activities.
A Pakistani dissident, Mehran Marri, also known as Mehran Baluch, who has more than 27,000 followers on Twitter, has spoken on behalf of ARACA.
Marri, who supports Balochistan’s secession from Pakistan, has also served as the President of Balochistan House, an organisation linked to Ankit Srivastava of the Srivastava Group.
“NGOs tied to this ecosystem are also often represented by official representatives of minorities in Pakistan, who can be seen to speak for different organizations,” notes DisinfoLab.
The media connection
The Indian disinformation network relies heavily on more than 700 fake media outlets to spread propaganda of the NGOs linked to Srivastava Group.
Fake news websites such as EU Chronicles, Japan Times Today, and Arizona Herald, regularly published Pakistan-centric stories.
The DisinfoLab found that the Indian news wire agency, ANI, a partner organisation of Reuters, often helped magnify the stories published by these outlets.
Once sent out by ANI, these stories were picked up by respectable media groups such as The Times of India and The Economic Times.
A glaring example of how the propaganda works can be seen in the 2017 interview of the Pakistani diplomat Hussain Haqqani published in another fake outlet, Times of Geneva.
The story titled ‘Baloch posters in Switzerland to isolate Pakistan’ was picked up by ANI and forwarded to its subscribers. It ended up on the webpages of Outlook India magazine and the Business Standard.

The hindu fundamentalist Nazi Indian ideology must be fought hard and defeated.
 
94158_IndiaModi_1607613651099.jpg

  1. NEWS
  2. MAGAZINE
The staggering scale of India’s anti-Pakistan propaganda machine
  • 10 DEC 2020

What would you like to learn more about?
Topics
Related
Popular


Hundreds of fake news websites and NGOs linked to Indian entities were used to spread propaganda against Pakistan internationally.
For years Pakistan has accused its archrival India of engaging in hybrid warfare which relies on a disinformation campaign to undermine Islamabad at international forums. Now it seems much of that is true.
The EU DisinfoLab has uncovered a network of NGOs and fake media organisations linked to India that for more than a decade have been engaged in anti-Pakistan propaganda.
"It is the largest network we have exposed," Alexandre Alaphilippe, executive director of EU DisinfoLab told the BBC after the report “Indian Chronicles” was published on Wednesday.
Brussels-based DisinfoLab is a European NGO which aims to check the disinformation targeting the European Union, its parliamentarians and policies.
In a sophisticated operation, much of which has been linked to the New Delhi-based Srivastava Group, hundreds of fake media outlets, long-dead organisations and stolen identities were used to paint Pakistan in a negative light in the EU and elsewhere, the report says.

While DisinfoLab says it has not found any connection between this campaign and the Indian state, Pakistan’s foreign office came out with a strong statement.
“India not only spread disinformation but abused international institutions in its desire to malign Pakistan,” it said.
The revelations could deepen tension further between the two neighbours who have fought three wars and have come close to another full blown conflict last year.
Resurrected to deceive
The DisinfoLab investigation found that at least ten long-defunct NGOs and industry-related organisations were resurrected and used to lobby diplomats at international forums, especially the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
For instance, the Commission to Study the Organisation of Peace (CDOP), an NGO that became inactive in the 1970s, was reactivated in the mid-2000s to organise events on the sidelines of UN sessions and send representatives to panel discussions.
Its origin has been linked to Srivastava Group.

What will worry many in Islamabad is that the NGOs in question are UN accredited, something which makes them appear legitimate.
The groups are also responsible for putting up “Free Balochistan” posters across Geneva in 2017. Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province is facing an insurgency, and India often highlights the human rights violations there to deviate attention from its own atrocities in Kashmir.
The International Club for Peace Research (ICPR), another dormant NGO that focuses on Africa, was resurrected in 2009 when it started to appear at the UNHRC sessions where Pakistan was targeted.
It was this so-called NGO which in 2012 issued a press release, distributed by Indian news agency DNA, demanding “enquiry into genocide in Bangladesh by Pakistani Army.”
“The (ICPR) website refers to promoting peace and to Mother Teresa in its “about us” section, lists past events and meetings related to peace and human rights in Africa, but its “news”, “pictures” and “demonstrations” sections are entirely about human rights in Pakistan,” DisinfoLab says.
The groups ostensibly lobby around issues that are sure to cause discontent within Pakistan.
“Generally, we found several other NGOs regularly covering the same issues around minorities in Pakistan, Balochistan, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. For a majority of these NGOs, these issues are not part of their original mission,” it notes.
For instance, in the southern Sindh province there’s strong resentment against the construction of upstream dams. But despite it being a domestic matter, the World Sindhi Congress was invited by one of the groups at the 2018 UNHRC to speak against the dam.
The report has also raised questions about the performance of UN bureaucracy as organisations set up to represent industry groups ended up in the hands of Indians and later used solely as tools to bash Pakistan.
Take for example the Canners International Permanent Committee (CIPC), which was established to promote the canning industry but stopped functioning in 2007. It was later reactivated by the same Indian network.
“The core theme of the original NGO – “canned foods” - was totally diverted by Indian Chronicles to undermine Pakistan at the Human Rights Council,” says DisinfoLab.
Another interesting example is of the African Regional Agricultural Credit Association (ARACA), which instead of proposing ways to help farmers, has used Geneva for anti-Pakistan activities.
A Pakistani dissident, Mehran Marri, also known as Mehran Baluch, who has more than 27,000 followers on Twitter, has spoken on behalf of ARACA.
Marri, who supports Balochistan’s secession from Pakistan, has also served as the President of Balochistan House, an organisation linked to Ankit Srivastava of the Srivastava Group.
“NGOs tied to this ecosystem are also often represented by official representatives of minorities in Pakistan, who can be seen to speak for different organizations,” notes DisinfoLab.
The media connection
The Indian disinformation network relies heavily on more than 700 fake media outlets to spread propaganda of the NGOs linked to Srivastava Group.
Fake news websites such as EU Chronicles, Japan Times Today, and Arizona Herald, regularly published Pakistan-centric stories.
The DisinfoLab found that the Indian news wire agency, ANI, a partner organisation of Reuters, often helped magnify the stories published by these outlets.
Once sent out by ANI, these stories were picked up by respectable media groups such as The Times of India and The Economic Times.
A glaring example of how the propaganda works can be seen in the 2017 interview of the Pakistani diplomat Hussain Haqqani published in another fake outlet, Times of Geneva.
The story titled ‘Baloch posters in Switzerland to isolate Pakistan’ was picked up by ANI and forwarded to its subscribers. It ended up on the webpages of Outlook India magazine and the Business Standard.





so indian are shameless liars.
 
This piece of garbage already debunked.

An attempt has been made by Pakistan & its proxies to hurt ANI's credibility by hurling wild accusations of fake news. Our partners and subscribers fully understand the politics that is behind all this, and continue to repose faith in the depth reach & credibility of our coverage


 
This piece of garbage already debunked.
LOL...

Another slap on your face. Snake media expertise on smearing and fake news.


Afghan VP denies detention of 'Chinese militants'
Indian media claimed Chinese nationals nabbed in Kabul on charges of espionage, running terror cell
 
This piece of garbage already debunked.

An attempt has been made by Pakistan & its proxies to hurt ANI's credibility by hurling wild accusations of fake news. Our partners and subscribers fully understand the politics that is behind all this, and continue to repose faith in the depth reach & credibility of our coverage



Debunked only for bhartis. No one outside Bharat considers EU disinfo lab a Pakistani proxy.
 
LOL...

Another slap on your face. Snake media expertise on smearing and fake news.


Afghan VP denies detention of 'Chinese militants'
Indian media claimed Chinese nationals nabbed in Kabul on charges of espionage, running terror cell




If BBC does it is gold and if ANI does it is lies. Very funny post. This news has been already put to garbage. Try more.
 
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  1. NEWS
  2. MAGAZINE
The staggering scale of India’s anti-Pakistan propaganda machine
  • 10 DEC 2020

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Hundreds of fake news websites and NGOs linked to Indian entities were used to spread propaganda against Pakistan internationally.
For years Pakistan has accused its archrival India of engaging in hybrid warfare which relies on a disinformation campaign to undermine Islamabad at international forums. Now it seems much of that is true.
The EU DisinfoLab has uncovered a network of NGOs and fake media organisations linked to India that for more than a decade have been engaged in anti-Pakistan propaganda.
"It is the largest network we have exposed," Alexandre Alaphilippe, executive director of EU DisinfoLab told the BBC after the report “Indian Chronicles” was published on Wednesday.
Brussels-based DisinfoLab is a European NGO which aims to check the disinformation targeting the European Union, its parliamentarians and policies.
In a sophisticated operation, much of which has been linked to the New Delhi-based Srivastava Group, hundreds of fake media outlets, long-dead organisations and stolen identities were used to paint Pakistan in a negative light in the EU and elsewhere, the report says.

While DisinfoLab says it has not found any connection between this campaign and the Indian state, Pakistan’s foreign office came out with a strong statement.
“India not only spread disinformation but abused international institutions in its desire to malign Pakistan,” it said.
The revelations could deepen tension further between the two neighbours who have fought three wars and have come close to another full blown conflict last year.
Resurrected to deceive
The DisinfoLab investigation found that at least ten long-defunct NGOs and industry-related organisations were resurrected and used to lobby diplomats at international forums, especially the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
For instance, the Commission to Study the Organisation of Peace (CDOP), an NGO that became inactive in the 1970s, was reactivated in the mid-2000s to organise events on the sidelines of UN sessions and send representatives to panel discussions.
Its origin has been linked to Srivastava Group.

What will worry many in Islamabad is that the NGOs in question are UN accredited, something which makes them appear legitimate.
The groups are also responsible for putting up “Free Balochistan” posters across Geneva in 2017. Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province is facing an insurgency, and India often highlights the human rights violations there to deviate attention from its own atrocities in Kashmir.
The International Club for Peace Research (ICPR), another dormant NGO that focuses on Africa, was resurrected in 2009 when it started to appear at the UNHRC sessions where Pakistan was targeted.
It was this so-called NGO which in 2012 issued a press release, distributed by Indian news agency DNA, demanding “enquiry into genocide in Bangladesh by Pakistani Army.”
“The (ICPR) website refers to promoting peace and to Mother Teresa in its “about us” section, lists past events and meetings related to peace and human rights in Africa, but its “news”, “pictures” and “demonstrations” sections are entirely about human rights in Pakistan,” DisinfoLab says.
The groups ostensibly lobby around issues that are sure to cause discontent within Pakistan.
“Generally, we found several other NGOs regularly covering the same issues around minorities in Pakistan, Balochistan, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. For a majority of these NGOs, these issues are not part of their original mission,” it notes.
For instance, in the southern Sindh province there’s strong resentment against the construction of upstream dams. But despite it being a domestic matter, the World Sindhi Congress was invited by one of the groups at the 2018 UNHRC to speak against the dam.
The report has also raised questions about the performance of UN bureaucracy as organisations set up to represent industry groups ended up in the hands of Indians and later used solely as tools to bash Pakistan.
Take for example the Canners International Permanent Committee (CIPC), which was established to promote the canning industry but stopped functioning in 2007. It was later reactivated by the same Indian network.
“The core theme of the original NGO – “canned foods” - was totally diverted by Indian Chronicles to undermine Pakistan at the Human Rights Council,” says DisinfoLab.
Another interesting example is of the African Regional Agricultural Credit Association (ARACA), which instead of proposing ways to help farmers, has used Geneva for anti-Pakistan activities.
A Pakistani dissident, Mehran Marri, also known as Mehran Baluch, who has more than 27,000 followers on Twitter, has spoken on behalf of ARACA.
Marri, who supports Balochistan’s secession from Pakistan, has also served as the President of Balochistan House, an organisation linked to Ankit Srivastava of the Srivastava Group.
“NGOs tied to this ecosystem are also often represented by official representatives of minorities in Pakistan, who can be seen to speak for different organizations,” notes DisinfoLab.
The media connection
The Indian disinformation network relies heavily on more than 700 fake media outlets to spread propaganda of the NGOs linked to Srivastava Group.
Fake news websites such as EU Chronicles, Japan Times Today, and Arizona Herald, regularly published Pakistan-centric stories.
The DisinfoLab found that the Indian news wire agency, ANI, a partner organisation of Reuters, often helped magnify the stories published by these outlets.
Once sent out by ANI, these stories were picked up by respectable media groups such as The Times of India and The Economic Times.
A glaring example of how the propaganda works can be seen in the 2017 interview of the Pakistani diplomat Hussain Haqqani published in another fake outlet, Times of Geneva.
The story titled ‘Baloch posters in Switzerland to isolate Pakistan’ was picked up by ANI and forwarded to its subscribers. It ended up on the webpages of Outlook India magazine and the Business Standard.

LOL...

Another slap on your face. Snake media expertise on smearing and fake news.


Afghan VP denies detention of 'Chinese militants'
Indian media claimed Chinese nationals nabbed in Kabul on charges of espionage, running terror cell
Turkish media is the one which knows everything lol. I understand that you guys only have Turkey whom you can pay for your false narratives.
What try more? I have prove u indian media are snake charmers. You shall be the one being embarrass and stop humiliating yourself more here. :lol:
Chinese Media should be called that as there is no press freedom there.
 
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