India suffered many setbacks in its hybrid warfare against Pakistan. EU-based EU DisinfoLab revealed an India-sponsored dis-informational network of 265 fake media outlets in 65 countries, including the US, Canada, Brussels, and Geneva. The network was being run by the Srivastava Group of India. It listed New Delhi Times as one of its assets, and also ran a thinktank called International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies. The Institute paid for the travel and accommodation of an unofficial far-right delegation of 23 European Union parliamentarians to Srinagar on 30 October 30, 2013. The trip was arranged by Indian –intelligence surrogate Madi Sharma who posed as a self-styled “international business broker”. The delegation’s shikara (boat) ride in Kashmir Lake (dal) pictured Kashmir as heaven in serene peace.
Digital Rights Monitor found More than 84,000 fake tweets were generated with false hashtags, with 6688 tweets/hour being made at the peak of the trend. Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a registered Canadian charity, published a Pakistan-bashing report Khalistan—A project of Pakistan which found mention in almost all leading Indian newspapers. Another pro-India “think-tank” is the “International Terrorism Observatory” chaired by Roland Jacquard.
Inspite of these setbacks, there is no lull in India’s smear campaign against Pakistan. India considers the Taliban the other side of the Pakistan coin. It alleged without proof that PAF ndia bombed Panjshir. In its over ebullience, India omits to plug up gnawing contradictions in its fake news, views and analyses. A recent example is the appointment of Mosarrat Alam Bhat, the successor to life-time chairman, Ali Shah Gilani, All Parties Hurriyat Conference. Bhat spent about 25 years in Indian jails, but no case was ever proved against him. He was schooled at Tyandle Biscoe, and graduated from Sri Pratap College.
Indian media has become a handmaid of Indian intelligence agencies. Even prestigious Indian newspapers do not hesitate to publish reports or articles that smack of being pieces of state-sponsored disinformation. Harvard’s criteria for detecting fake news could be applied to disinformation bloomers. Harvard suggests `everyone should vet a publisher’s credibility first and then check all the sources and citations’
Ali Gilani resigned from the Hurriyat last year. But, the APHC announced the change only in September, 2021
India’s national investigation Agency claimed “that immediately after his arrest, Muslim League chairman Masarat Alam Bhat revealed in the investigation that Pakistan-based agents routed funds through Hawala operators and these were transferred to separatists, including Syed Ali Geelani” . “The NIA had said that immediately after his arrest, “Muslim League chairman Masarat Alam Bhat revealed in the investigation that Pakistan-based agents routed funds through Hawala operators and these were transferred to separatists, including Syed Ali Geelani”. “Bhat was also instrumental in linking banned naxal groups with Kashmiri separatists. An indicator to this link came during 2010 when Bhat, the mastermind behind stone-pelting incidents that left 112 people dead in several months of the agitation in 2010, circulated a pamphlet about the plan for strikes by separatists”.*
A detailed examination by the Questioner of Examined Document of the paper showed that the font used in the pamphlet circulated by Naxal leader Kishenji and by Bhat were identical and even the printers were the same, they said.
An earlier report is based on presumption that Ali Geelani had appointed Pak-based Abdullah Geelani as his successor. In the report, they even claimed that the APHC was being funded by income from narcotics. An extract from the tell-tale report is given here to shoe how little even a prestigious newspaper like The Hindu cared for ethics when it come to Pakistan bashing.
“Syed Ali shah Gilani quits his faction of All Parties’ Hurriyat Conference and named Rawalpindi-based Abdullah Geelani as his successor amid speculation that he was doing ISI”s bidding.. “Abdullah Geelani is known to be close to ISI. Ali shah Gilani was forced to quit his post and hand over the reins to Abdullah Geelani because ISI was not in favour of either Hizbul Mujahideen chief Salahuddin or Hurriyat veteran Ghulam Mohammad Safi, an insider said. The feud within the secessionist setup erupted last January when Ali Shah Gilani removed Safi, once a close aid and, as chief of the Hurrriyat POK[Pakistan Occupied Kashmir] Chapter. The bone of contention was apparently distribution of the spoils of the narcotics trade that funds terrorism in the valley, sources said. The recent attempt on the life of Hizb chief Salahuddin in Rawalpindi was allegedly master minded by Abdulah Gilani with the ISI’s support. Kashmir born Salahuddin wanted to head the Hurriyat, the sources said.
So what now for the Hurriyat after the exit of Ali shah Gilani? The buzz is that the conglomerate might function differently now that all orders would come directly from Pakistan. Baramullah- based Abdullah Gilani, 55, crossed over to Pakistan in 2000 and has been based there since. Two of his three wives are Pakistani”
Indian media has become a handmaid of Indian intelligence agencies. Even prestigious Indian newspapers do not hesitate to publish reports or articles that smack of being pieces of state-sponsored disinformation. Harvard’s criteria for detecting fake news could be applied to disinformation bloomers. Harvard suggests `everyone should vet a publisher’s credibility first and then check all the sources and citations’.
