The Pegasus snooping scandal, CCP and Naxals – Untangling the net of lies spun by Leftist journalists

The Wire lately the political corridors abuzz with its revelation of a “leaked list” of potential targets of surveillance by an “unidentified agency” utilizing Pegasus software program from Israel. It includes a listing of 300 “verified” numbers contains these utilized by Indian “ministers, opposition leaders, journalists, the legal community, businessmen, government officials, scientists, rights activists and others.As per the Wire report, France-based media non-profit, Forbidden stories and Amnesty International had first accessed the list and thereafter shared the same with 16 news organisations worldwide, The Wire being one of them. As soon as the report was out, Indian media and opposition launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government accusing it of infringing upon their privacy rights. Curiously, this report was released a day before the Monsoon session of the parliament started where PM Modi was set to introduce his new cabinet of ministers post a grand reshuffle.The Indian government, on the other hand, refuted the claims and termed the reports a “fishing expedition.” The authorities acknowledged that there isn’t any concrete foundation or reality related to the declare that there was authorities surveillance on particular folks. “The commitment to free speech as a fundamental right is the cornerstone of India’s democratic system. We have always strived to attain an informed citizenry with an emphasis on a culture of open dialogue,” it mentioned.Furthermore, India’s newly sworn IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw took to the parliament and mentioned that the report being cited by the alleging people itself contradicts the claims made by them. Vaishnaw mentioned “The allegation is that individuals linked to these phone numbers were being spied upon. However, the report says that: The presence of a phone number in the data does not reveal whether a device was infected with Pegasus or subject to an attempted hack. Without subjecting a phone to this technical analysis, it is not possible to conclusively state whether it witnessed an attack attempt or was successfully compromised.”Not simply that, Vaishnaw additionally highlighted how the NSO group, developer of the Pegasus software program, itself rubbished the claims made within the report. Vishnaw mentioned “NSO Group believes that claims that you have been provided with, are based on misleading interpretation of leaked data from basic information, such as HLR Lookup services, which have no bearing on the list of the customers’ targets of Pegasus or any other NSO products. NSO has also said that the list of countries shown using Pegasus is incorrect and many countries mentioned are not even our clients. It also said that most of its clients are western countries.”The indisputable fact that ‘The Wire’ was chosen to interrupt this ‘massive story’, touted by some anti-Modi careerists as PM Modi’s Watergate, itself makes the report murky and fewer credible. The left-leaning portal has been recognized for doing hit-jobs on prime leaders BJP leaders and the Indian courts have been giving a troublesome time to the scandals-ridden group for lengthy. Far from a reputable information supply, if anybody needed this explosive story to be taken significantly, it might not have been given to The Wire. But maybe no different media organisation just like the extra credible Indian Express would danger doing such a half-baked report and be discredited for it.The likes of MK Venu, Siddharth Varadarajan and Rohini Singh have almost mastered the artwork of pulling off their scandalous and ostensibly earth-shattering scoops in opposition to the Modi authorities. For occasion, MK Venu, one of many Wire’s three founders, was embroiled within the Niira Radia tapes Controversy which got here out in 2008-09. According to the tapes, he was among the many alleged energy brokers of the UPA authorities and part of the government-corporate-media nexus.Rohini Singh is one other member of The Wire staff who occurs to be a disciple of MK Venu. In the Niira Radia case, Venu was heard asking Niira Radia to introduce Rohini Singh to folks within the institution as a result of she was to report on insurance policies of finance ministry. “Just wanted her to be introduced to people in your system,” mentioned Venu to Radia about Rohini Singh. She was later booted out from the Economic Times group for writing articles supportive of financial insurance policies of Akhilesh Yadav with a blind eye and blatantly campaigning for him, within the final UP meeting elections.The different platform that broke the information of the Indian authorities allegedly spying upon the opposition leaders and media personalities was none apart from Newsclick. Of late, the media group has been accused of receiving illicit funding from China-related businessmen. Newsclick is below the Enforcement Directorate’s radar over Chinese funding linked to the Communist Party of China (CPC). BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra lately accused it for making an attempt to unfold unrest within the nation. “There is an international conspiracy to defame India. There are pseudo activists and these portals like Newsclick, under the cloak of media along with the international leaders of certain parties try to spread unrest in the country. This is an international toolkit,” Patra mentioned in a information convention.According to the varied media experiences, 10 international locations have been accused of deploying this software program to spy upon their residents. The checklist contains the international locations corresponding to Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The indisputable fact that India is the one absolutely functioning democratic nation to be included within the checklist clearly implies a foul-play by the hands of the so-called flag-bearers of democracy. Even the software program’s developer ‘the NSO group’ has clearly acknowledged that the majority of its purchasers are primarily based out of western international locations solely.The Wire— typically dubbed as India’s faux information factory- has been on the loggerheads with the Modi authorities since its inception. The Wire even embarked upon a vicious agenda to implicate the Yogi-led Uttar Pradesh authorities for allegedly pursuing an anti-Muslim ideology. Owing to its propensity of spreading faux information and misinformation, The Wire and its journalists have already been booked below the National Security Act (NSA) within the state. The Wire’s contemporary assault on the Modi authorities is being marketed vigourously by it, however it lacks substance and the reality and proved to be a humid squib.