Pegasus Snooping Story ‘Concocted, Fabricated, Evidence-less’, Says BJP
Manjil Das, INN/Chennai
Twitter-@SGiggle29 @Infodeaofficial
“It‘s a contrived, invented and evidence-less narrative,” the BJP said in a statement on Thursday. “The fresh reports based on it call for defamation.” According to reports, Amnesty International, the human rights organisation involved with the Pegasus Project, has denied the existence of a list of prospective targets.
“This is a compilation of cell phone numbers taken from the yellow pages and exploited for yellow journalism,” she said during a news conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi. Several nations, including India, have been accused of spying on citizens, including politicians and journalists. According to a statement released by Amnesty International, the findings of the Pegasus Project are “absolutely true” and that the data is irrefutably connected to possible targets of Israel’s NSO Group.
According to certain Israeli media sources, Amnesty International never indicated that the newly released phone numbers were a list of numbers targeted by Pegasus malware. “This malware has been utilised in 10 nations,” Lekhi told reporters as he attacked opposition parties, including the Congress and TMC. “Other countries haven’t behaved in the same way as India,” Lekhi said. India’s Modi government is accused of snooping on over 300 mobile phone numbers, including those of journalists, activists, opposition leaders, and even two ministers. ‘This is not a story,’ she said. Globally, this is a non-starter. Forgery and slander are inherent in this narrative. Leaked data is a crime, and that complicates the lives of those who build their narrative on it. In India, it’s a unique phenomenon. It is based on numbers that may be found in any telephone book. ” And Amnesty International denies this as well. “The business (NSO) that makes Pegasus has claimed that these accusations are uncorroborated and do not align with their client base,” she added. The claimant said the Pegasus dispute is related to a report by her committee, which studied the Personal Data Protection Bill. She said it has been sent to the Lok Sabha Speaker and is ready to be adopted by Parliament.
“The protection of personal information will become the law of the land. This is inextricably linked to that. Such allegations are being circulated to weaken Indian institutions, “she stated. Despite the fact that NSO, the Israeli corporation behind the spyware, has denied such a list, Amnesty International has “denied” it, and the opposition is interrupting Parliament, she added, adding that such a narrative is continually constructed to harm India. She said that the government is establishing a “new ecosystem” to protect Indians’ data and rights, and that the dispute is intended to harm it.
“These types of tales are being circulated in order to weaken Indian institutions and prevent data protection from becoming the law of the nation. This is done to desensitise the people to the structures’ legitimacy and to tarnish our country’s image. ” According to Lekhi, when asked if the government had deployed spyware in response to the opposition’s question, she replied that any such security information is secret since the government needs to deal with terrorists and Maoists.
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you what programme I’m using. Assisting terrorists will be the result. The Congress should first determine whether it is dealing with terrorists, “she stated. When asked if the previous administration would have bought it, she claimed it was “above her pay grade.” In response to another query, she stated that people who established such a list have the burden of proof. The BJP leader also chastised the opposition for grabbing and ripping papers from Communications and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in the Rajya Sabha as he prepared to give a speech on the alleged spying issue. She claimed that Congress and the TMC have “stooped” to a new low.
