Pakistan asks UN, EU to probe fake pro-India NGOs, media

Pakistan has demanded the UN immediately delist 10 fake NGOs identified by a Europe-based disinformation watchdog as being part of a massive pro-India disinformation campaign.

"Pakistan calls on the United Nations and the UN Human Rights Council to immediately begin investigation and delisting of the 10 fake NGOs created by India to malign Pakistan. We also call on the United Nations to create processes that ensure that the international system is not manipulated to such influence operations," Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Friday. 

He also urged the UN Human Rights Council, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the relevant special procedure mandate holders to take a serious look as to how a prestigious platform such as the council was misused.

"The United Nations Economic and Social Council and its NGO committee must scrutinise and make sure that the government-owned and sponsored organisations piloting this information and spreading fake news and hate are not able to gain any space in UN platforms, especially the Human Rights Council," Qureshi demanded.

READ MORE: The staggering scale of India’s anti-Pakistan propaganda machine

15-years of anti-Pakistan disinformation

On Wednesday, the EU DisinfoLab exposed a 15-year-long campaign to "denigrate" Pakistan and Kashmir at international forums, spreading a disinformation campaign that targeted the European Union and UN with over 750 fake local media outlets and more than 10 sham non-governmental organisations.

The report said the operation was led by the Srivastava Group, a business conglomerate that came into the spotlight in India after organising a controversial visit to the disputed Kashmir region for far-right members of the European Parliament in late 2019.

"It is the largest network we have exposed," Alexandre Alaphilippe, executive director of EU DisinfoLab told the BBC after the report was published on Wednesday. 

Last year, the researchers exposed 265 pro-Indian sites operating across 65 countries and traced them back to New Delhi-based Srivastava Group.

Qureshi accused New Delhi of running the campaign, adding authorities in Switzerland and Belgium, in particular, should investigate the finances and transparency of the relevant NGOs, registered within their jurisdiction.

"The scope and extent of India's operations against Pakistan under their hybrid war is now apparent for the world to see. Pakistan will take all necessary actions to protect its interests," he said.

READ MORE: Indian media jumps on another fake news story targeting Turkey

The report titled "Indian Chronicles" narrated how the name of Martin Schulz, former European Parliament president, was misused.

In Geneva, it used think-tanks and NGOs for lobbying, protesting and taking the floor at the UNHRC on behalf of "accredited" organisations.

In Brussels, the focus was on members of the European Parliament who were taken on international trips and solicited to write op-eds for fake outlets like the EU Chronicle.

European Parliament members were taken on trips to promote the false Indian narrative of normalcy in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir, Qureshi said.

Qureshi warned the international community that India is manipulating and misusing the international system for its own nefarious designs.

"We call on the European Union parliament to begin a credible investigation into the manipulation of the EU parliament, and its legislative process by these fake organizations involved in anti-Pakistan propaganda under a fully funded disinformation and influence operation, run by India," he said.

READ MORE: India disinformation network targets Pakistan, says European watchdog

Indian wire ANI peddling fake news 

Talking about the role of premier Indian news agency Asian News International (ANI), Qureshi said that now it is proved that ANI was pushing fake news from two fake Indian-created websites.

"We also call on international news agencies to reconsider their existing partnership with ANI news agency," Qureshi said.

"Pakistan will take all necessary actions to protect its interests. Once again, we warn the world to take heed of the RSS-BJP regime"s agenda which threatens regional peace and continues to manipulate the international system for its own nefarious ends," Qureshi said.

The DisinfoLab found that 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. 

READ MORE: The spectre of disinformation looms as India prepares for elections

EU DisinfoLab found at least 13 instances of ANI re-publishing mostly anti-Pakistan and sometimes anti-China op-eds by European Parliament members, originally published on EU Chronicle, one of the fake news sites linked to Srivastava Group.

The EU DisinfoLab report comes less than a month after Pakistan accused India of sponsoring "terrorism" aimed at destabiliSing the country and targeting its economic partnership with China.