New Delhi: After facing immense humiliation post Operation Sindoor, Pakistan has been trying to win a perception battle against India.
The ISI has been constantly looking for influencers it can buy so that they could put out Pakistan’s point of view, while also defaming India on the other hand. There is a dedicated cell run by the ISI, which handles these operations. The job of this cell is to identify influencers and get them to make videos that suit Islamabad’s narrative.
While the Indian agencies arrested several influencers, such as Jyoti Malhotra, in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, it has now come to light that the ISI is now roping in foreigners to portray India in a poor light.
Several influencers from various parts of the world have been identified to create content in India and portray the country in a poor light. These influencers, suspected to be on the payrolls of the ISI, visit India on a tourist visa and then create videos. These videos speak ill of the country. They intentionally take up cheap hotels and portray that only such places are available in the country to live.
Further, they also eat food meant for the underprivileged and then put out a message through their videos that this is the condition of every Indian.
Further, there are also videos in circulation that paint a different picture of the Jammu and Kashmir issue. They travel to the Union Territory and then shoot videos. During the commentary, they intentionally refer to it as Indian occupied Kashmir. This is what Pakistan calls Jammu and Kashmir. India has condemned Pakistan’s take on numerous occasions and made it clear that the Kashmir issue is an internal one and Jammu and Kashmir is very much part of the country and belongs to no one else.
Intelligence agencies, which are looking into the activities of the vloggers, said that the ISI is very capable of indulging in such acts. At first, it hired scores of Indian influencers. The influencers are invited to Pakistan, where a good amount of money is given. Their job was to say good things about Pakistan. This is an image that the ISI wants to portray to the world.
In recent years, owing to poor or no infrastructure, Pakistan has been mocked around the world.
Making matters worse is the failing economy and the constant scrutiny by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Operation Sindoor and also the major embarrassment that the army has been facing at the Afghan border, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan have hurt the image of the country.
The Indian influencers and some others were picked up to change this image. The idea to pick up foreign influencers and get them to put out content that shows the country in a poor light is more of a strategy that is aimed at creating a negative image.
Many within Pakistan have started questioning the government about the lack of development and a failing economy. This content put up by these foreigners is circulated widely in Pakistan.
The idea is to tell the Pakistani people that all is not well in the neighbourhood as well. The influencer module that the ISI runs is a clear change in strategy. The influencers may not be exactly gathering and passing information from India. However, their job description is different, and that is to create a perception about Pakistan.
Following the arrest of Jyoti Malhotra and others, it came to light that the Pakistan High Commission is very much part of the racket.
Apart from identifying such persons, it also gives them visas very easily so that their travel to Pakistan is hassle-free. The agencies are also looking at whether some of the foreign influencers have been in contact with the high commission or have received their orders directly from Islamabad.
