Pakistan calls for UN, EU to investigate India’s disinformation campaign

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

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf in a joint press briefing here at the Foreign Affairs Ministry 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, a Brussels-based NGO, 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 the abuse of international organizations. Foreign Minister Qureshi said India had launched a smear campaign against Pakistan, however 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. Also, he said, 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 and its NGO committee to scrutinize and make sure that the government-owned and sponsored organizations piloting disinformation and spreading fake news and hate were not given any space in UN platforms, especially Human Rights Council.

He also emphasized on 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 OpEds for fake media outlets or taken on trip to endorse the false Indian narrative of normalcy in illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir must recognize India for what it is,” he said.

He said the EU Parliament must begin a credible investigation into its manipulation through fake organizations carrying out anti-Pakistan propaganda under a “fully-funded disinformation and influence operation run by India”.Qureshi called upon the foreign news agencies especially Reuters to reconsider their existing partnership with Asian News International (ANI), now proven to be pushing news from two fake Indian crated websites reportedly.

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.