In this highly digitalized era information is used as a tool by various set-ups to fulfill their narrative. It can easily be done by presenting the information in such a form that changes its very essence. These tactics are vigorously used on the social media platform channelize the viewers in a certain direction.
In our previous report, we exposed the shrewd narrative of the Twitter accounts Pakistan Strategic Forum(link). This DFRAC exclusive will analyse two of the multiple fronts of the PSF network and how they amplify the similar hateful narrative and target India. The report is segregated into different parts that are taken into view to analyse the narrative of these PSF fronts:
- Introduction to PSF fronts.
- Fact Check of fake and deceptive content targeting India.
- Peddling hate against India using over the issue of Kashmir.
- Biasness and intent analysis.
- Putting India in a bad light
- PSF Accounts Analysis
Introduction to PSF front
This report focuses on two of the accounts taken from the PSF nexus. These accounts function as a tool to amplify the prevailing narrative of PSF. This section contains a quick overview of them:
- The Intel Consortium
According to the bio this account is of @ForumStrategic’s O&S Directorate: Weapons Intelligence, Threat Matrix and National Security Policy, Conflict Analytics, OSINT, Aerospace, Diplomacy & War. It has 26.3K followers.
Below is the graph depicting users who mostly liked the top 20 tweets of the account of The Intel Consortium. Some of the top users include, @AhsanKh74663374, @manoo7541, @Umarhere73, @Abdullah5385, @KaleemUqbah, etc.
- Conflict Watch PSF
This account is of @ForumStrategic‘s Conflict Analytics Division: Gaining & disseminating vital open-source intelligence obtained from studying external conflicts around the globe. It has 5.8K followers.
Below is the graph depicting users who mostly liked the top 20 tweets of the account of Conflict Watch. Some of the top users include, @danish_shazarul, @Arslan450here, @AhsanKh74663374, @malik_nawas5, etc. Some of the users are also from India, for example, @GurbaxBains, @anshu142000, @Akash_NaikR, etc.
It can be noticed from the timeline given below that the tweets of Conflict Watch started on14th Sept 2021, when the account was created and those of The Intel Consortium started on 11th April 2022 when the account was created. It can be seen that the frequency of tweets of The Intel Consortium has increased with time.
Fact Check of fake and deceptive content targeting India
- Claim: Indian-made cough Syrup caused the death of children in Indonesia.
Conflict Watch PSF and The Intel Consortium, both claimed that children died due to Indian- made cough syrups in Indonesia.
Fact Check: It was clearly mentioned by Indonesia (BPOM) that the two chemicals diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol were not registered in Indonesia and were used in West Africa. Moreover, it was not confirmed whether the syrup was imported or produced locally. Therefore, the claim these syrups were Indian-made is deceptive.
- Claim: Pakistan won the war of 1965 against India.
In one of the tweets, The Intel Consortium wrote, “Oh, I’m just referring to the tank battles of the 1965 Pakistan War with Bharat. We won that.”
FactCheck: Below are the estimated figure shared by a report of the Quint about ‘who lost what in the war of 1965.’
Pakistan lost more resources and territory in the war. There are no such figures that can support the claim of this PSF fronts of winning that war.
After the war India and Pakistan had signed an agreement for ceasefire in the Rann of Kutch. “Where both Governments of India and Pakistan have agreed to a ceasefire and to the restoration of status quo as on January 1, 1965, in the area of Gujarat/West Pakistan border in confidence that this will also contribute to a reduction of the present tension along the entire India/Pakistan border.”
Therefore, the claim of PSF front that Pakistan won the war of 1965 is nothing but an illusion to mislead people
- Claim: “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans shouted in Maharashtra
Conflict Watch PSF (@AmRaadPSF) posted a video of news the India channel ANI claiming that “Pakistan zindabad slogans are shouted by PFI in Maharastra. The caption was the video is, “#Pakistan Zindabad” slogans in #Maharashtra, #India! Govt of #NarendraModi is pushing minorities beyond their limits. RSS mobs malign Mosques, Churches & other worship places. Tyrannically #RSS, is polarizing #Indian community. Now the curtain of Secularism has been crippled.”
Fact Check: DFRAC team found that in reality the slogan of “Popular Front Zindabad” were being raised. Also, police too have denied any such happening.
- Claim: Accusing India for international terrorism.
The Intel Consortium shared a report with the caption “Exposing #India’s involvement in international terrorism, #Qatar has recently arrested 8 former officers of the Indian Navy on charges of spying. The officers were actively involved in transferring classified data to Israel and India.”
Fact Check: According to the reports, the charges against these ex-officers are still unknown but sharing a news article The Intel Consortium accused India for international terrorism.
Peddling hate against India using over the issue of Kashmir
Both these accounts of PFS fronts are beset with hate against India. These accounts have tweeted lot of hateful tweets against India over the issue of Kashmir. It include referring Kashmir as India illegally occupied Kashmir, comparing the situation of Ukraine with Kashmir and sharing posts in support of hate mongers and fake news peddlers like MushaalMullick.
Biasness and intent analysis
This account tweeted about the statement of Ukraine’s Foreign Minister that criticized India for purchase of Russian oil.
However, The Intel Consortium has nowhere said anything about the biggest importer of Russia’s crude oil or Germany and EU who are the largest importer of gas from Russia amid Ukraine-Russia war.
Not only this, both these fronts of PSF have shared posts about China which are majorly cordial. They talk about human rights but have side-lined what China is doing to Uyghur Muslims. Their desperation to lure China can be seen below.
Putting India in bad light
- In one the tweets Conflict Watch PSF wrote, “Indian singer Sidhu Moose Ala shot dead. Another #Punjabi voice silent by #Indian fascist state of #India . Minority of #India including Sikhs and Muslims are under constant attacks. #sidhumoosewala stood for rights of Sikhs and paid the price.”
*Worrying about minorities of India, this account has not addressed any single incident of atrocities on minorities in Pakistan.
PSF Accounts Analysis
Conflict Watch has used multiple hashtags which includes India. Some of them are: #IndiaArmy, #ModiShamesIndia, #BoycottIndianProducts, #IndiaSupressingSpeech, etc. The below wordcloud shows the hashtags used.
The below wordcloud shows the words that were used maximum number of times in the tweets on India of both the accounts. Some of the words include, “Terrorist”, “Nuclear”, “Indian Army”, “Kashmir”, etc.
- Below are the accounts which were mostly mentioned by The Intel Consortium
- The below pie chart showcases the types of posts done by the account of The Conflict Watch
- The below pie chart showcases the types of posts done by the account of The Intel Consortium.
- The below pie chart showcases the types of posts done by the account of The Conflict Watch
Conclusion
This report has elucidated the information manipulation tactics used by two among the multiple fronts of PSF. It highlighted the way how they are prevailing their biased and hateful narrative against India. In order to fulfil their narrative, they have used misinformation and half-truths and have always side-lined India’s stand in any incident. These activities raise a serious concern that if any organisation share this amount of misinformation under the guise of a thinktank, whether it should be taken seriously?
