British parliamentarian Julie Ward was approached by Madi Sharma, a lobbyist, to cosign articles for EP Today on women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. (Sharma was among the organisers of the Kashmir visit.)
An NGO based in Brussels called the EU DisinfoLab has published a report detailing one of the largest ever disinformation campaigns in Europe, organised by Indian stakeholders, to promote the interests of the Indian government and the prime minister Narendra Modi. According to EU DisinfoLab, prime players of this disinformation campaign are Asian News International, India’s largest video news agency, and the Srivastava group—a shadowy business conglomerate that came into the spotlight in India after it organised a visit to Kashmir for far-right members of the European Parliament, in late 2019, Caravan reported.
Titled as “Indian Chronicles,” the report is based on a year-long investigation by the NGO, which was built upon and published exclusively by news organisations such as Les Jours in France.
In its report, Les Jours quoted a misinformation expert who described this campaign as “a network … whose scope and impact are comparable to the operation of Russian interference during the campaign in the United States in 2016.”
In its report, the NGO describes how fake media websites and NGOs run by the Srivastava group lobbied members of the European Parliament, or MEPs, to write op-eds backing the Indian government’s stance, often against Pakistan or China, which were then published on the group’s dummy news websites.
The news agency ANI then quoted these as credible reports from European media, from where Indian media and news channels reproduced and disseminated them, without further checking them. The entire operation could be linked to Indian intelligence services, the Les Jours suggested.
In one of the most brazen aspects of this investigation, the NGO found out that for 15 years, organisations connected to the Srivastava group had been making representations at the Council for Human Rights, at the United Nations, primarily undermining Pakistan. According to the report, organisations connected to the Srivastava group even “resurrected” dead people and dead NGOs—that is, used their names and identities—to create an air of credibility around themselves, which was later used to take pro-India stances.
AlexandreAlaphilippe, the director of DisinfoLab, when asked about whether the report had proof of ANI working directly with the Srivastava companies, wrote that he had “no comment,” before adding: “But I encourage you to look at these facts: EU chronicle set up on 6th May. 11th May already 3 op-eds from 3 MEPs. On 12th May, ANI quotes Eu chronicle as an independent media and reliable source.”
The Les Jours report also depicts how the Indian lobby gets European politicians to support Indian foreign interests. British parliamentarian Julie Ward was approached by Madi Sharma, a lobbyist, to cosign articles for EP Today on women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. (Sharma was among the organisers of the Kashmir visit.)
Suggested by Sharma, Julie Ward asked at least one question in the European parliament. “Then I was asked to co-sign a column on human rights violations in Balochistan”—in Pakistan—“which made me uncomfortable, it seemed very biased to me,” Ward told Antoine Hasday and Nicolas Quénel, who reported for Les Jours. “Even though I am critical of the Pakistani government, I was increasingly worried about Narendra Modi’s (nationalist and authoritarian drift).” The article also linked Sharma to EU Chronicle.
DisinfoLab report’s sizable portion discusses how ANI misrepresents reports from EU Chronicle and other Srivastava group linked organisations to convince an Indian audience that Modi’s actions have support in Europe. The report claims that Yahoo News India and BP Business World have reproduced at least 8 ANI dispatches based on content originating from EU Chronicle, and ZEE5 has reproduced at least 9 segments of content. The Business Standard newspaper and the Times of India have also used this type of content. ANI, according to the count of DisinfoLab investigators, has already copied content published by EU Chronicle 13 times in just six months.
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