The ‘bombshell’ by EU Disinfo Labat the year-end 2020 shows
an incredible ecosystem that goes far beyond the‘disinformation’ alone. This is
not just “fake news” or “fake transmitters”, but a long and complete influence
operation involving a nebula of media, NGOs and think tanks. It exposes various
names of Pakistani individuals, with Hussain Haqqani (HH) on top, who are
seemingly hired by the Indian intelligence for anti-Pakistan, anti-Pakistan Army
and anti-CPEC propaganda through print or electronic as well as social media
like Facebook, Twitter and other outlets.
The EU Disinfo report“Indian Leaks” specifically mentions HH and his interview
to ANI where he is shown defending “Free Balochistan”, “Pashtun Genocide” and
“Sindhudesh” propaganda posters by Srivastava Group, at Geneva. Page 49 of the
Leaks mentions HH giving this interview to ANI on anti-Pakistan propaganda
posters in Geneva, Switzerland, during a UNHRC meeting, while page 50 mentions
how HH’s interview was amplified by the Indian media’s propaganda machine for
larger audiences by Business Standard and Outlook India to spread it to even
wider global audiences.Page 6 and 89 mention how ANI, that HH was giving
interview to, is linked to the Indian state and Intelligence R&AW operatives and
how this propaganda network spanned a 15-year period in 116 countries.
Similarly, p.26 of the report mentions how “Free Balochistan” posters, which HH
was demanding in ANI interview, were actually organized and posted by the
Srivastava Group that runs the entire disinformation campaign.
The enitre report of EU Disinfo Lab actually mentions by name Hussain Haqqani
and the shady Indian-financed ‘fake’ think-tanks with the name of EFSAS and SADF.
All three have links, according to the report, with Srivastava Group that has
been running the entire propaganda operation against Pakistan for the last 15
years.EFSAS member YoanaBarakova has been attending SAATH Forum’s conferences in
UK and EFSAS has been widely coordinating with SAATH Forum to organize
propaganda against Pakistan, Pakistan Army and the CPEC project in order to
convince western policymakers for the benefit of Indian influence. Likewise,
SADF, another Indian financed fake think-tank and a “partner” of EFSAS, is
linked to Srivastava Group. It also produces an extensive amount of
anti-Pakistan, anti-Army and anti-CPEC propaganda material.
Though the SAATH Forum of HHis now denying its links with EFSAS, yet it posted
its own participation at the second SAATH Forum conference held in London UK on
16 October 2017 on its websitehttps://www.efsas.org/announcements/2017/10/16/efsas-participates-in-international-conference-in-london,-organized-by-saath/.
EFSAS sent YoanaBarakova to attend the SAATH Forum conference held in UK on 16
October 2017.YoanaBarakova, mentioned by name in the EU Disinfo Lab report as an
Indian sponsored propagandist,is seen with Hussain Haqqani posted by EFSAS
website https://www.efsas.or/events/conferences/saath-forum.-london-october-2017/.
A month before that, HH hosted the entire propaganda gang from EFSAS for
“breakfast” in Geneva including Junaid Qureshi, the Director of EFSAS and son of
RAW operative, who hijacked an aeroplane in 1971 on 25 September 2017. https://www.efsas.org/events/sessions-of-unhrc/breakfast-with-mr.-haqqani/.
Even before that, EFSAS team was again hosted by SAATH Forum’s Hussain Haqqani
on 24 September 2017 including Junaid Qureshi and YoanaBarakova mentioned by
name in the report by EU Disinfo Lab report. https://www.efsas.or/announcements/2017/09/25/mr.-hussain-haqqani-hosts-efsas-team-for-breakfast-in-geneva/.
Not only the report has established links between Indian propaganda and shady
NGOs set up in Geneva, Brussels, London, Canada, etc as part of an influence
operation against Pakistan, but the report also sheds light on SAATH Forum’s
links to this network.This brings us to SAATH Forum’s so called activists who
are also linked to Indian propaganda machine, frequently writing anti-Pakistan
reports for Indian media, appearing on Indian channels spewing propaganda
against Pakistan, its Army and CPEC through spreading fake news.
Top of the list is Dr Mohammad Taqi who is medical doctor by profession, working
at a hospital in Florida, but on the sidelines, he is the founder of SAATH
Forum. He frequently writes anti-Pakistan propaganda articles for the Indian
propaganda machine.Another key propagandist is Taha Siddiqui who is media
manager for SAATH Forum. He runs fake news organizations “South Asia Press” and
“Safe News Rooms Organization”. He is also associated with Indian media group
ANI and Geneva based fake rights organization “Baloch Human Rights Council”.
Eminent among those working for Indians is Gul Bukhari, another member of SAATH
Forum, who routinely writes anti-Pakistan and anti-Army articles for the Indian
media. She is considered a vocal mouthpiece for the Indian lobbying attempts
against Pakistan, often tagging FATF on social media to get Pakistan
blacklisted.
WaqasGoraya is another anti-Pakistan propagandist, who is member of SAATH Forum
and whose full time job is to spew anti-Pakistan and anti-Army venom, on social
media. Lately, these SAATH Forum members have admitted to being online trolls,
fake news peddlers and propagandists, sponsored and financed by Indian
government and its intelligence agencies. Another SAATH forum and Srivastava
Group member is Nabi Bakhsh Baloch of the so-called US chapter of separatist
“Baloch National Movement”. He does anti-Pakistan propaganda in Geneva at the
UNHRC meeting on behalf of Srivastava Group, as mentioned by the EU Disinfo Lab
report. Another person, Lakhu Lakhani, is from World Sindhi Congress. He is the
one giving interviews to Indian media propaganda agency ANI and is also a member
of SAATH Forum.
Another SAATH member SengeSering, linked with Srivastava Group, organizes
conferences and anti-Pakistan propaganda through ANI news agency. The “Institute
of Gilgit-Baltistan Studies”, specifically named in the EU Disinfo Lab report,
is part of the elaborate disinformation network headed by Srivastava Group that
has used the name of Louis Shon considered to be a “Grandfather of International
Human Rights Law.” The head of “Institute of Gilgit-Baltistan Studies”,
SengeSering is based in Washington DC, and is himself a member of HH’s SAATH
Forum. He attended the first conference by SAATH Forum as mentioned by
aHindustan Times news report.
One is not sure whether our newspapers would be courageous enough to come up
with publishing the EU report, comments and editorials on it, because the names
of some Pakistanis have been mentioned, but this is part of the “Indian Leaks”
by EU which hasn’t minced any words while clearly naming and identifying them
for this dirty business of propaganda against Pakistan and its armed forces.
This also indicates that Pakistan is facing an undeclared war by the enemy, ever
since it failed to cow down Islamabad by its massive 10-month-long buildup of
army on the eastern border. The conclusion was that the Indian army cannot
confront and defeat Pakistan head-on in the battlefield, the only way to “teach
Pakistan a lesson” is to weaken it from within, through hybrid, cyber and fifth
generation war, propaganda warfare and by sowing seeds of hatred within its
society.
The tentacles of it were spread to other European countries and thank God the EU
has daringly done a very good job by identifying it through Disinfo Lab,
obviously because of the realization that the saner elements within the European
society abhor spread of hatred falsely and purposefully. Why its soil is being
used for a long time, the world must take a serious notice of.
(The writer is freelance columnist from Islamabad)