LEADING pro-Khalistan group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) recently won a major defamation case at the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario, Canada, against CBC journalist Terry Milewski and conservative-leaning public policy ‘think tank’ Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI). They had alleged, inter alia, that the SFJ and its Khalistan referendum campaign was a project run and financed by Pakistan.

India is spearheading its disinformation campaign against Pakistan through so-called think tanks and journalists of doubtful credentials. The MLI, a registered Canadian charity, published a Pakistan-bashing report, titled ‘Khalistan: a project of Pakistan’, which found mention in almost all the leading Indian newspapers.

Another pro-India ‘think tank’ is the International Terrorism Observatory, chaired by Roland Jacquard. Prestigious French newspaper Le Monde pointed out in 2015 that he was the only member of the organisation which was “without publications, without a website, without postal address and without any legal existence”. He runs a bookstore stacked with books on ‘networks of Islamist terrorism’.

According to journalists, like Didier Bigo, Laurent Bonelli and Thomas Deltombe, Jacquard’s claim of being a ‘media expert’ is questionable.

In July 2010, Jacquard appeared on the France 5 channel. In the show, he displayed a 300-page Arabic manual, supposedly intended for Al Qaeda cadres to protect themselves from the secret services on the internet. The authenticity of the document was questioned by leading journalists at the time because the cover of the document was similar to that of a simple manual downloadable for free on the internet. Jacquard incessantly writes anti-China and Pakistan-bashing articles in Global Watch Analysis.

Another ‘think tank’ sponsored by India is the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, run by the Srivastava Group of India, known for promoting propaganda and terrorism. In a startling disclosure, Europe-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) EU DisinfoLab exposed the identity of the ‘think tank’ as also India-sponsored, fake, disinformation-spreading network of 265 fake media outlets in 65 countries, including the United States, Canada, Belgium and Switzerland.

The NGO found that the ‘institute’ had paid for the travel and accommodation of an unofficial far-right delegation of 23 European Union parliamentarians to Srinagar on Oct 30, 2013. The trip had been arranged by Indian intelligence surrogate Madi Sharma, who posed as a self-styled ‘international business broker’.

India should close the ‘Free Balochistan’ office on its soil, and stop resuscitating propaganda skeletons of pre-Bangladesh days. India portrays the freedom movement in occupied Kashmir as ‘terrorism’, while international ‘think tanks’ are openly working against Pakistan. India should stop meddling into Pakistan’s affairs if it is serious about having peace and stability in the region.

Amjed Jaaved
Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2021