EU DisinfoLab exposes Indian network spreading propaganda against Pakistan

The EU DisinfoLab in a new investigation, titled Indian Chronicles has disclosed that over 750 Indian backed websites spread across 119 countries have been operating to undermine Pakistan since the last 15 years within the European Union and the United Nations.

The report stated that the operation led by the Srivastava Group and amplified by ANI — an Indian news agency based in New Delhi — under the banner of “Indian Chronicles” began in 2005 and is still underway. It’s mission is to discredit nations in conflict with India in Asia, in particular, Pakistan but also China to a lesser extent.

“Indian Chronicles’ key objective is to undermine Pakistan internationally. To do so, they resurrected dead NGOs at the UN. They impersonated the EU. They laundered content produced by fake media to real media – and reached millions in South-Asia and across the world,” the report added.

The report highlighted that the operation’s long-term objectives was to promote content against Pakistan and China, and consolidate India’s power at international forums such as the EU and UN.

Resurrection of UN-accredited NGOs and the hijacking of causes

The investigation found that the former president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz — who said to have left politics — was now heading Canners International, an NGO dedicated to the promotion of food in cans.

“We soon found the NGO he was supposedly leading officially ceased to exist in 2007 and was now regularly speaking at the UN Human Rights Council to slam Pakistan,” the report said.

According to the EU DisinfoLab, the Indian Chronicles also resurrected a renowned international human rights lawyer Louis Sohn. He was listed as a participant in a UN event in 2007 as well as an attendee during an event in Washington DC in 2011 even though he passed away in 2006.

Summary of the 15-year influence operation

The open-source investigation shows that the operation led by the Srivastava Group and amplified by ANI began in 2005 and is still ongoing at this date.

The operation’s mission is to discredit nations in conflict with India in Asia, in particular Pakistan but also China to a lesser extent. Its long-term objective is:

In India, to reinforce pro-Indian and anti-Pakistan (and anti-Chinese) feelings.

Internationally, to consolidate the power and improve the perception of India, to damage the reputation of other countries and ultimately benefit from more support from international institutions such as the EU and the UN.

ANI’s role

The report stated that the only valuable coverage these op-eds receive, comes from an immediate repackaging by an Indian press agency named ANI (Asian News International), often quoting these op-eds as genuine articles from “independent media EU Chronicle”.

It noted that the Indian press agency covers the lobbying efforts taking place under the cover of fake NGOs, with sometimes quite dubious practices.

The coverage – and often distortion – by ANI of the content produced in Brussels and Geneva led us to the Big News Network and the World News Network – an entire network of 500+ fake local media in 95 countries that have helped reproduce negative iterations about Pakistan (or China). “We also realised that the content produced was primarily targeted at Indian nationals, with an extensive coverage of these barely known “media”, MEPs and “NGOs” in Europe,” the report stated.