Foreign Desk Report
NEW YORK: Pakistan has urged United Nations committee to act against NGOs involved in massive disinformation campaign to damage the reputation and hurt the interests of a member state.
In a letter to Chairman of the Committee on NGOs, Mohamed Sallam Adam, Ambassador Munir Akram drew his attention to the “startling revelations” made by EU DisinfoLab, a Brussels-based independent and NGO, about the blatant abuse by at least 10 NGOs of their consultative status with the Economic and Social Council.
Pakistani envoy said that NGO Committee is mandated to regulate the United Nations’ relationship with non-governmental organizations.
He also wrote that it is equally important that the committee undertake comprehensive review of its working methods with a view to prevent such abuse by fake NGOs in the future.
Earlier December 11, Pakistan called on the United Nations and UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to immediately begin an investigation into the startling revelations by a Brussels based NGO and de-listing of the 10 fake NGOs created by India to malign the country.
At a joint news conference in Islamabad, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi along with Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Security Dr Moeed Yousaf and Foreign Secretary Sohail Mehmood, pushed for a credible investigation into the manipulation of the EU Parliament and its legislative process by these fake organisations involved in anti-Pakistan propaganda under a fully funded disinformation influence operation run by India.
“We also call on the United Nations to create processes that ensure that the international system is not manipulated through such influence operations,” Qureshi said a day after EU DisinfoLab, a Brussels based NGO, revealed how India used fake media outlets, defunct think tanks, NGOs and even a dead human right activist to target Pakistan.
An 80-page investigative report by EU DisinfoLab highlighted that the operation’s mission is to discredit nations in conflict with India in the region, in particular, Pakistan and also China to a certain extent. In the long run, the campaign is aimed at bolstering India’s global perception, which will ultimately allow New Delhi to bag more support from international institutions such as the EU and the UN.
DisinfoLab researchers believe the operation, which has been running for the past 15 years, has employed more than 750 fake media outlets, and more than 550 domain names in 119 countries to reinforce pro-Indian and anti-Pakistan feelings. Observers believe that if such an operation was carried out by countries such as China or Russia, the reaction from the world particularly from the western countries would have been far more different. Pakistan condemned what it said were ‘reprehensible tactics’ by India and FM Qureshi said it endorsed Pakistan’s stance that India was involved in destabilising the country.
The EU Disinfolab revealed that India’s Srivastava Group used Indian ANI to spread fake news against Pakistan. Since ANI offers its services to many local and international media outlets, it helped India to give credibility to its fake campaign against Pakistan.
