The mediascape since August 05, when Government of India announced the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, should have been a happy hunting ground for those who love to spot fake news and propaganda originating in Pakistan.
It was a riot of blatant lies and pure hate with Pakistani ‘fast bowler’-turned-Prime Minister Imran Khan himself letting out a stream of invective against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Over the period of this prolonged tantrum, it was often difficult to make a distinction between small-time agents of the Pakistani propaganda network and those who occupy ‘respectable’ positions in the ‘Establishment’ and the media.
Exiled Pakistani dissident Ahmad Waqass Goraya posted on September 25 a thread of 10 tweets that give an amazing insight into how ISI uses its hirelings through Pakistani embassies in the West to slander India and to stage ‘protests’.
Pakistani federal minister for maritime affairs Ali Haider Zaidi, for example, tweeted on August 17 an old video clip of police action in Haryana against rioters belonging to Dera Sacha Sauda as evidence of ‘atrocities’ allegedly being committed against Kashmiris.
Another ‘interesting personality’ who tweeted the same video clip was Abdullah Gul, the son of Hamid Gul (1936-2015), who is best known as having once been the boss of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the patron of jihadi and Khalistani terrorists.
The BBC published on August 22 a ‘fact check’ report in Urdu on that video clip whose headline, translated into English, read: ‘Did Ali Haider Zaidi and Abdullah Gul share ‘fake videos’ of Kashmir?’
The BBC report gives screenshots of other messages posted by the two men (with more fake videos) such as this tweet in Urdu by Abdullah Gul, whose first two lines read: ‘Mass slaughter has begun in Kashmir. This video has been sent by a Kashmiri sister.’
The Print also posted on August 21 a debunking of the video from Haryana.
(Those who wish to learn more about Abdullah Gul can see this investigative report by India Today on the role Abdullah Gul has been playing as a liaison between Pakistani security agencies and ringleaders of jihadi terrorism like Hafiz Saeed of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Syed Salahudeen of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.)
Pakistani TV anchor Moeed Pirzada, with 1.97 million followers on Twitter, posted a message on August 28 that said, “RSS gangs being unleashed in parts of Kashmir to drive villagers out, drive them onto LoC and create quasi settlements to show ‘normalcy’”.
Pirzada anchors discussions on ‘92 News’ TV channel and is also the CEO and editor of Global Village Space, another platform that publishes hate-filled propaganda against India.
(’92 News’ is Lahore-based Urdu language TV channel which has not only provided a platform to extremist Islamists but has also been involved, according to this report, in providing financial support to Khadim Husain Rizvi, one of the most incendiary Islamic clerics in Pakistan today. There is another reference to ’92 News’ in the following paragraphs of this article, which suggests that the ISI has been using the same TV channel for its own propaganda.)
‘Diplomats’ Abdul Basit, Shahid Malik, and Ashraf Jehangir Qazi (each of whom has had a stint as Pakistani High Commissioner to India) told Hamid Mir: “It’s entirely lawful and obligatory on not just Pakistan but the entire world to help Kashmir in waging an armed war against India.”
Hamid Mir, one of the most recognizable faces on Pakistani TV channels, has his own record of spreading fake news on Kashmir, as shown by this article by SM Hoax Slayer.
Mir also retweeted an August 19 tweet by Kavita Krishnan, the venomous propagandist of Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML), in which she claimed that Governor of Jammu and Kashmir was “advocating genocide of Kashmiris”!
(It’s easy to see that Pakistanis’ repeated rant calling Modi ‘fascist’ has been taken verbatim from the Communist copybook, but that will take another article.)
Another element of Pakistani propaganda on Kashmir has been the staging of anti-India ‘protests’ in foreign lands.
(Pictures purportedly of one such ‘protest’ outside the Indian embassy in Oslo are posted here.)
The reality of Pakistan’s ‘protests’ against India in foreign lands is no less ugly than its fake news and abuse campaign.
It has been widely reported, for instance, that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan met Ghulam Nabi Fai – a convicted criminal who has served a jail sentence in the US for concealing the transfer of funds from Pakistan’s ISI for his illegal lobbying efforts on Kashmir – in New York this week.
Exiled Pakistani dissident Ahmad Waqass Goraya (who fled Pakistan in early 2017 after having been ‘disappeared’ and tortured by the military and now lives in the Netherlands) posted on September 25 a thread of 10 tweets that give an amazing insight into how ISI uses its hirelings through Pakistani embassies in the West to slander India and to stage ‘protests’.
The tweets are in Urdu – made in response to Imran Khan’s statement on September 24 in New York that he is “disappointed” with the lack of support on Kashmir issue from international community.
The following are the Devanagari transcripts of Goraya’s tweets and their English translation. Some hyperlinks have been added at a few places to connect the reader to the contextual information.
| Ahmad Waqass Goraya – @AWGoraya | |
| दुनिया के रवैये की वजूहात हैं.
पाकिस्तान की हर एम्बेसी में ISI दख़ल-अंदाज़ है. ‘फ़्रेंड्ज़ ऑफ़ कश्मीर,’ ‘कश्मीर-EU फ़्रेंडशिप,’ ‘कश्मीरी सॉलिडैरिटी,’ और मिलते जुलते नामों से मग़रबी मुमालिक में ISI ने अपने टाउट्स के नाम पर तन्ज़ीमें बनाई हैं. There are reasons behind the said attitude of the international community. ISI interferes in each one of the Pakistani embassies. It has created outfits in the Western countries through its touts — with such names as ‘Friends of Kashmir,’ ‘Kashmir-EU Friendship,’ ‘Kashmir Solidarity.’ |
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| इनका काम सिर्फ़ इंडियन एम्बेसी के बाहर पाकिस्तानी दिहाड़ी-दार इकट्ठे करके नारे मारना है, या फिर इंडियन ऑफिशल्स के दौरों पर नारे (लगाना), गालियां (देना) है.
मग़रिब में कश्मीर की बात करने का मतलब समझा जाता है कि आप ISI के टाउट हैं. Their only job is to muster Pakistani hirelings outside Indian embassy to shout slogans or to shout slogans and hurl abuses when Indian officials are on (foreign) tours. It’s tacitly assumed in the West that if you are raising the Kashmir issue, you must be an ISI tout. |
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| दुनिया को कश्मीर से लाताल्लुक़ करने की ज़िम्मेदार ISI और पाक फ़ौज है. अच्छे ख़ासे लोग जो कश्मीरियों के हिमायती (हैं) वह भी पब्लिक फ़ोरम पर नहीं बोलते कि ISI का लेबल लग जाएगा।
ISI and the Pakistani military are responsible for the world’s disconnect with Kashmir. Even decent people, who stand with Kashmiris, avoid talking in a public forum lest they are labelled ISI agents. |
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When these hirelings embedded in the embassies, who scrounge off government benefits here, go back to Pakistan, they are treated to special meetings with the Prime Minister, Governor, President, etc., whose pictures they post on their social media accounts to impress people and to hire more of their kind. |
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इस तरह कोई इंटरनेशनल इवेंट हो या UN, EU में किसी भी मौज़ू पर कॉन्फ़्रेन्स हो तो यह टाउट वहाँ पहुँच जाते हैं हुल्लड़-बाज़ी के लिए. बन्दा बात कर रहा होता है ऐमेज़न के जंगल की और यह उठ कर शोर मचा देते (हैं कि) कश्मीर पर बात करो.
They intrude into international events or UN and EU conferences on any subject just for raising a ruckus. So, if someone is talking about Amazon forests, they will heckle him and demand that Kashmir be discussed. Well-known journalists and mercenaries are members of such off-line troll networks. |
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In Geneva, everyone from Ahmed Quraishi to the embassy staff are involved in this kind of work. |
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| ब्रस्सल्स में एक मैट्रिक-फ़ेल चू**** है. उसकी ऑर्गनाइज़ेशन के नीचे हॉलैंड, स्पेन, फ़्रैंकफ़र्ट, वियना, पैरिस और बहुत से मुमालिक का ISI जासूसी नेटवर्क है.
In Brussels, there is a Matric-failed jerk whose organization is a front for the ISI spy network in Holland, Spain, Frankfurt, Vienna, Paris and other places. |
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| इसमें यहाँ के ज़कात-ख़ोर — एक तो — तन्ज़ीमों वाले, दूसरा ARY, बोल टीवी, नाइन्टी टू, वग़ैरह के प्रेस कार्ड होते (हैं).
Involved in this (organization) are people from Zakat-receiving outfits and those who carry ‘press cards’ of ARY, Bol TV, 92 News, etc. |
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| जहां कोई इवेंट हो रहा होता है वहां जाकर विडियो रेकॉर्ड करके बतौर सहाफ़ी एम्बेसी में ISI के कुत्ते को पहुँचाना होता है. वही जाली सहाफ़ी शाम को दिहाड़ी पर एहतिजाज में नारे मार रहे होते हैं.
Their job is to attend whatever event is taking place, make a video, and supply the recording to ISI’s lapdog in the embassy. The same fake ‘journalist’ can often be seen the same evening taking part in ‘demonstrations’ and shouting slogans on payment. |
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| जब तक ISI और फ़ौज डिप्लोमेसी और इन मामलात से दूर नहीं होगी दुनिया यूँही पाकिस्तान को दुत्कारेगी।
As long as the ISI and the military do not desist from diplomacy and these affairs, the world will continue to humiliate Pakistan. |
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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- Pakistan’s disinformation campaign on Kashmir and an insight into ISI-orchestrated ‘protests’ - September 27, 2019
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