Pakistan playing the religious card within India (English Version) Amar Ujala 28 Apr 2020
Pakistan playing the religious card within India (English Version) Amar Ujala 28 Apr 2020
In recent days there have been a spate of social media posts displaying objectionable behaviour of Muslims resulting in negative comments from across the country. None who saw these posts ever questioned its source and authenticity. It was assumed to be true as most of them emerged soon after incidents involving the Tablighi Jamaat were broadcast. Since these incidents were verified by media channels, the other posts emerging on social media were also assumed to be true.
However, as had happened on multiple earlier occasions, majority of the posts being projected on social media were fake having been placed there by Pakistani handles with the intention of drawing negative comments and enhancing internal religious divide. Many have been filmed in Pak or are old posts. Pak always maintains a collection of such posts and projects them at the right time for maximum effect. The Tablighi Jamaat incident gave it the opportunity. The negative reaction on these videos was then exploited across the Muslim world claiming India is targeting its minority communities.
Their timing was also suspect. Post an announced meeting between the Pakistan ISI chief, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, PM Imran Khan and Pak President Dr Alvi, there were a series of tweets by both Pak leaders on Indian treatment of its minority community, mostly based on these fake inputs. Interestingly, Pak’s action coincided with anti-India rants by activists within India who stated in international interviews that minorities are unsafe in India. It was adding fuel to fire and seeking to convert a fake narrative into reality.
Imran Khan tweeted, ‘The deliberate & violent targeting of Muslims in India by Modi Govt to divert the backlash over its COVID19 policy, which has left thousands stranded & hungry, is akin to what Nazis did to Jews in Germany.’ President Alvi stated, ‘Every passing day is becoming more dangerous for Muslims in India… The world should be warned that this is a clear indication of a future genocide.’
Their tweets were providing legitimacy to ISI’s activities of enhancing social divide within India and impacting Indian relations with Muslim majority nations. These were backed by comments of their foreign office in their briefings. This led to the OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission tweeting, ‘unrelenting vicious Islamophobic campaign in India maligning Muslims for spread of #Covid-19 as well as their negative profiling in media subjecting them to discrimination & violence with impunity.’
Additional proof of Pak’s intentions was evident as the Pak army chief was missing from these meetings. The reason of not being an official party to the game was that his presence would have lowered the image, he has built for himself, globally. The US consults the army chief on matters concerning Afghanistan and Pakistan, ignoring Imran Khan and SM Qureshi, who remain just puppets.
To push this agenda further forward, Pakistan created multiple fake Middle East social media handles who kept harping on the damage to the close relationship which exists between India and these countries. A few known social media handles from the region were drawn into the game to provide some sense of authenticity. Old ISI accounts were changed to appear to be from the Middle East as their earlier deleted posts were discovered.
To further add to confusion, these social media accounts began threatening the Indian community within the Middle East. For Pak, the Indian community there remains powerful and a challenge to the largely unskilled workers provided by Pak. The Pak hand became evident when Indian security agencies began investigating into the sudden spurt of social media accounts with Middle East names projecting a near similar theme of Muslims being unsafe in India. They discovered ISI social media accounts were changed to Arabic names or posed as Arabic royalty. The accounts pushed two hashtags termed as #ChaosInIndia and #ShameOnModi.
The intention was to lower the Indian image built in these nations as the Gulf States have been very appreciative of PM Modi’s efforts to reduce tension and bring stability in the region, especially during the COVID-19 crisis. The planning and implementation of Pak was such that it compelled the Indian PM and Ambassador to the UAE to intervene and tweet to remove doubts. It also led to the Indian foreign minister speaking to his counterparts there to remove any misgivings.
A similar approach of Muslims being insecure in India was adopted by the ISI during the Shaheen Bagh protests and the Delhi riots post the announcement of CAA. The intention was to instigate people into joining the protests and riots as also spread violence beyond Delhi. They failed.
In J and K, Pak had been spreading fake posts claiming Indian intentions are to change demography of the region and India does not consider Kashmiris as its citizens. Recent encounters are being termed by Pak handles as killing of innocents. Currently, it is gone a step worse and is seeking to push in positive Coronavirus cases into the valley.
The blocking of internet in J and K and subsequently 4G services have prevented Pak from instigating youth to violence and joining terrorist ranks. It is this desperation which has led to them continuously claiming that the valley is under curfew. With failure in the valley it has shifted its strategy inwards. This too would be exposed, and Pak would be left embarrassed.
About the Author
Maj Gen Harsha Kakkar
Retired Major General Indian Army