A massive operation to serve Indian interests by targeting international institutions through a systematic disinformation campaign against Pakistan and China has been uncovered by an EU based organisation.
“The operation’s mission is to discredit nations in conflict with India in Asia, in particular Pakistan but also China to a lesser extent,” a study conducted by EU DisinfoLab, an independent NGO said. The operation was a follow up to a preliminary investigation published in 2019.
This network is active in Brussels and Geneva in producing and amplifying content to undermine – primarily – Pakistan. The operation codenamed “Indian Chronicles” resurrected dead media, dead think-tanks and NGOs. It even resurrected dead people, the report revealed.
The network is part of the sinister propaganda campaign, part of its Fifth Generation Hybrid Warfare – 5GW, against Pakistan with an objective to create chaos in the country.
According to the EU DisinfoLab – the Indian Chronicles is a 15 year-long operation running since 2005; under which over ten UN Human Rights Council accredited NGOs, were resurrected including the resurrection of Prof. Louis B. Sohn, a prominent figure in human rights, who died in 2006. The report has been dedicated in his name. The study discovered several identity thefts, including the names of Martin Schulz, former president of the European Parliament or the photo of James Purnell, a former UK Government minister. It also included over 750 fake media outlets, covering 119 countries; and over 550 domain names registered.
The NGO – EU DisinfoLab focuses on researching and tackling sophisticated disinformation campaigns targeting the EU, its member states, core institutions, and core values, said the operation began in 2005 and was still ongoing till this date.
The study, of the 15-year influence operation, was conducted through open-source investigation and shows that the operation led by the Srivastava Group was amplified by Indian news media outlet – Asian News International – ANI.
Other long-term objectives of the plan included reinforcement of pro-Indian and anti-Pakistan, and anti-Chinese, feelings, within India. While internationally it aimed at consolidating the power and improving perception of India, to damage reputation of other countries and ultimately benefit from more support from international institutions such as the EU and the UN.
To achieve this objective the operation focused on the support to minority and human rights NGOs and think-tanks, use of Members of the European Parliament to create a mirage of institutional support from European institutions to these minority groups, in favour of Indian interests and against Pakistan and China.
It also had an active presence in Geneva and the United Nations’ Human Rights Council through: side-events and demonstrations in support of minority rights; impersonation of extinguished UN-accredited NGOs or use speaking slots reserved to various NGOs whose original missions seem totally unrelated.
The creation of fake media in Brussels, Geneva and across the world and repackaging and dissemination via ANI and obscure local media networks in at least 97 countries – to multiply the repetition of online negative content about countries in conflict with India, in particular Pakistan.
According to the details provided by the EU DisinfoLab, last year, a network of 265 fake media in 65 countries reproducing negative content against Pakistan online was uncovered.
The network was created by malicious actors who were behind “EP Today”, a fake European Parliament magazine active in Brussels since 2006.
The self-proclaimed “magazine for the European Parliament in Brussels” was serving as a “honeypot” for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and other politicians who could use it to publish their views – particularly those that serve Indian interests and undermine Pakistan. Some of these MEPs and other politicians attended United Nations side-events, press conferences and demonstrations in Geneva organised by minority-rights NGOs all set-up by the same actors, such as the European Organization for Pakistani Minorities.
The organisations created by the Srivastava Group in Brussels organised trips for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to Kashmir, Bangladesh and the Maldives. Some of these trips led to much institutional controversy, as the delegations of MEPs were often presented as official EU delegations when they were in fact not travelling on behalf of the Parliament. The actors orchestrating Indian Chronicles are directly tied – and again not at all transparently – to the creation of three informal groups in the European Parliament,
namely the “South Asia Peace Forum”, the “Baloch Forum” and “Friends of Gilgit-Baltistan”. They hold press conferences and events within and in front of the European Parliament. Organisations like WESTT – the Women Economic and Social Think-Tank – have drafted and suggested parliamentary questions to the European Commission, along with articles for fake EU magazines such as EP Today. These served as a honeypot to attract a growing number of MEPs into a pro-India and anti-Pakistan discourse, often using causes such as minorities rights and women’s rights as an entry point. A new fake media with fake journalists supposedly covering European affairs, yet essentially providing a platform for MEPs to sign pro-Indian articles. In less than 6 months of existence, already 11 MEPs have written or endorsed op-eds at a remarkably high pace for EU Chronicle.
The only valuable coverage these op-eds receive, comes from an immediate repackaging by an Indian press agency – ANI (Asian News International), often quoting these op-eds as genuine articles from “independent media EU Chronicle”.
Without Times of Geneva and 4 News Agency which stopped their activities following our previous investigation, ANI – which is considered as one of the biggest news agencies in India and the largest television agency of India – remains the only press agency to extensively cover the activities of dubious
While following the coverage – and often distortion – by ANI of its content produced in Brussels and Geneva, the DisinfoLab discovered the Big News Network and the World News Network – an entire network of 500+ fake local media in 95 countries that helped reproduce negative iterations about Pakistan and or China. The content produced was primarily targeted at Indian nationals, with an extensive coverage of these barely known “media”, MEPs and “NGOs” in Europe.
The investigation revealed how the activities of a fake “zombie-NGO” and that of a fake specialised media can be repackaged, distorted and amplified by malicious actors to influence or disinform globally, using loopholes in international institutions and online search engines.
The EU DisinfoLab concluded its report by expressing concern over “the continuation of Indian Chronicles which – despite our first report and wide press coverage – has pursued its 15-year long operation and even recently launched EU Chronicle, a fake EU outlet.” “This should serve as a call to action for decision-makers to put in place a relevant framework to sanction actors engaging in disinformation and abusing international institutions. It is possible that the absence of messages from the institutions affected by Indian Chronicles provided the space and opportunity to reinvent itself.”
