Who is Pieter Friedrich? An Internet Gunman or So-Called Torchbearer for Minorities in India
DFRAC Editor 
Pieter describes himself as a freelance Journalist who pays focus to history and current affairs of South Asia, Pieter has given lectures in many renowned institutions like Carleton University, Columbia University, James Madison University, Stanford University, St. Stephens College, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Los Angeles, and the University of Central Florida. He is also a novelist, recently his book “Saffron Fascists: India’s Hindu Nationalist Rulers” got published.
Let’s dig more about Pieter Friedrich
What are other journalists and social media influencers’ opinions about Pieter Friedrich?
- OSINTWa_com accused Pieter Friedrich of spreading hate regarding PM Narendra Modi.
https://twitter.com/Omgwowwat/status/1481549603937796096
2. Pramod Kumar Singh, Senior Associate Editor at The New Indian called Pieter a member of ISI. Pramod mentioned how after Disha Ravi, Nikita Jacob and 63 others we have another name of Pieter Friedrich in the Greta Toolkit case.
Disha Ravi Joseph, #NikitaJacob #AnitaLal #gretathanburg #MoDhaliwal #PieterFriedrich #BhajanSinghBhinder + 63 more names formed 70 members (2 ISI Handlers) #ZoomMeet on January 22,2021 for Global Day of Action 26 January against India. Thet don't deserve any mercy.
— Pramod Kumar Singh (@SinghPramod2784) February 16, 2021
Checking out Pieter’s Background
Pieter is a US resident. Before every label, he started as a Christian missionary activist who fights for the rights of Christian. Pieter often called a Hindu phobic, scammer behind Greta Toolkits, a puppet of Bhajan Singh Bhinder. “Pieter Friedrich has been on the radar of Indian security establishment since late 2006 when he was noticed in the company Bhajan Singh Bhinder also known as Iqbal Choudhury, Bhinder is associated with the K2 (Kashmir-Khalistan) desk of Pakistan’s spy agency ISI”, says The Indian Express. Pieter Friedrich runs a website where he assembles his Blogs, Article, News, Opinion and his major attention is driven to minority-based affairs of the US and India. Some of the articles are:
The article states how Pieter finds that Hindu nationalists believe in the supremacy of Hinduism and how they seek to vanish non-Hindus whereas the other two communities Christians and Muslims seek assimilation.
Pieter’s Dirty connection with Bhajan Singh Bhinder
- Who is Bhanjan Singh? Bhajan Singh Bhinder or Iqbal Chaudhary says that he belongs to Malaysia. He is a US-Based Sikh activist and he has been associated with the K2 (Khalistan and Kashmir) conflict of the ISI. After the unsuccessful attempts of Bhajan Singh Bhinder to poison India’s harmony. Bhinder decided to use the Internet as a weapon to defame India on the international level. Bhinder’s plan required a well-versed man who have a hunger strike a good command over history as well as the language of social media to spread misleading content and communal hatred. In 2007, Bhinder met his ideal man, Pieter Friedrich who was a 22-year young man and US-Based journalist before meeting Bhinder, Pieter was nothing more than a Christian activist. Bhinder funded Pieter and added weightage to his name by making him a part of the Sikh Information Centre (SIC) and together they formed Organization for Minorities in India (OFMI).
- Bhinder and Pieter shared a common view regarding the Sikh Genocide, mistreatment of minorities in India, the fascism of RSS over Hindutva. SIC contains different articles on the injustice done to Sikhs, Farmer’s Protest, Sikh Global Affair etc. Bhinder also uploaded a video on SIC where he is highlighting India as a country is known for lack of tolerance, forced conversions and also land which has no respect for women. Now the point is no country is perfect but just highlighting dreadful points of a country is an act of accusing a country and a sight of it was seen in the meeting held in the City of Manteca, CA Presents Sikh Genocide Proclamation.
3. Pieter and Bhajan wrote a book together “Kite Fights: The Proxy Wars behind the Kabul Gurdwara Massacre” in 2020.
Propaganda of Pieter Friedrich
Pieter has always focused on religion-based issues. At an early age, he was a Christian activist and later started showing interest in the minorities of India. Pieter’s tweets and articles are based on issues faced by a minority caste. He proclaims to raise his voice for the welfare of minorities in the world.
Pieter went on a 7-day hunger strike for persecuted Christian of India.
Pieter started a hunger strike where he was staying on a liquid diet and had not eaten anything solid for 7 days. In the passage of 7 days, Pieter posted many videos regarding how Christians are persecuted in India and USA. Many people supported Pieter and thanked him for raising the voice against the government for Christians.
https://twitter.com/FriedrichPieter/status/1481367388163481601?s=20&t=qRGdepMYfijrPw6VUH41tA
https://twitter.com/FriedrichPieter/status/1483245923643768835?s=20&t=y6dG4DYfs7fQFPKI5W1jaQ
Pieter also started a regime for Muslims of India
Pieter pointed out all the news where the keeper of Hinduism oppressed Muslims. Most importantly you can see the manipulation of content in the tweet.
https://twitter.com/FriedrichPieter/status/1479595921985839105?s=20
https://twitter.com/FriedrichPieter/status/1479344506293997568?s=20
https://twitter.com/FriedrichPieter/status/1477025844690239488?s=20
· Pieter wrote a book Bharat Bandh and the Dalit Struggle against Dehumanization
The book revolves around the centuries of the struggle of Dalits which still exists. Bharat Bandh tells how Dalits are facing down a systematic attempt at dehumanization. Another practice of Pieter was to defame India, internationally.
Bharat Bandh and the Dalit Struggle Against Dehumanization – Velivada – Educate, Agitate, Organize
WordCloud
The word cloud shows what are the words that are used a maximum number of times by Pieter Friedrich in his tweets. Some words that he has used the most inclusive, are “Hindu Nationalist”, “Atul Keshap”, “India”, “RSS”, “Violence”, etc. Pieter has always mentioned that he is been restlessly vocal about exposing RSS and the Modi government. Another word Atul Keshav, Pieter tweeted after Atul Keshav became the new president of US-India Business Council that, “It was, apparently, Atul Keshap’s overly eager attempt to expand his “deep global network” past the boundaries dictated by the sound judgment which eventually led to the end of his days as an international representative of the US government. #RSS”.
Hashtags Used
The top hashtags that Pieter used include, #RSS with more than 300 occurrences, followed by #ResignAtulKeshap with 121 counts, #StopPersecutingIndianChristians, and #Modi with almost 60 counts each. The most used hashtag by Pieter is #RSS which frames his agenda to expose RSS.
Pieter Friedrich, IAMCouncil along with Hindutva watch were the lead behind the #resignAtulKeshap.
Pieter’s link with the Greta Thunberg Toolkit and Vandalism of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in the USA.
Greta Thunberg tweeted a Toolkit on 14th February 2021 regarding a farmer’s protest. A toolkit is a mode to conduct social media campaign. Delhi Police cyber cell found that Greta’s toolkit has a document that shares information regarding Khalistanies so police were keeping an eye on everyone who was sharing Greta’s toolkit regarding the farmer’s protest. Delhi Police filed FIR against the creators of the toolkit shared by Greta Thunberg and a few youngsters were taken into custody like Disha Ravi, Nikita Jacob for collaborating with a pro-Khalistani group and creating a toolkit to defame India across the globe on the issue of three agri laws. Delhi Police mentioned Pieter Fredrich as a resource person in the Farmer’s Protest Toolkit.
In the video of Times Now, the anchor has given a brief on who is Pieter Friedrich and how he is connected to Greta Toolkit Case. Times Now captioned, “In a statement on Monday, the Delhi Police highlighted the involvement of a questionable foreign-based activist in the organisation of the global campaign against India. The Police have said that Pieter Friedrich’s involvement in the Greta’ toolkit ‘conspiracy case has come to the fore. The Delhi Police shared the specifics of its investigation into the toolkit today. DCP Manishi Chandra, when asked about the position of Peter Friedrich listed in the Toolkit, said that the individual was a supporter of Khalistan and had been on the radar of security agencies since late 2006. Bhajan Singh Bhinder was a very influential advocate of the K2 Desk of the ISI. Bhinder, who has been operating infowar operations or psyops, was related to Peter Friedrich. The police have said that the toolkit was planned very carefully”.
https://youtu.be/D4smQe1YzwQ
In the video, Delhi Police denoted Pieter as incongruous looking name, “Pieter Friedrich”. The officer also mentioned that he has been in of Delhi Police since 2006 and his name falls under ‘Who to be followed’.
IBT’s article proves the allegation imposed on Pieter.
Pieter Friedrich was a big part of the vandalism of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue.
Sources say that Pieter organized a meeting before the vandalism of Gandhi’s statue in the state park of California.
A report states the same as Bhinder-Pieter duo first started their tirade against Mahatma Gandhi along with OFMI. In the report of the Hindustan Times, they have mentioned how OFMI has spearheaded the protest.
Mentions
Accounts mentioned or tagged by Pieter the most in Twitter include himself, followed by @USAmbKeshap, @IAMCouncil, @POTUS, etc. @IAMCouncil is Indian American Council is the largest advocacy organization of Indian Muslims in the US. IAM Council follows the same agenda, targeting the Modi government and defaming India on an international level.
Did Indian American Muslim Council is an ally with Pieter Friedrich
As we have witnessed the one constant name in Friedrich’s account mentioned is IAMCouncil. Let’s take a look over it. Indian Muslim Council is the largest advocacy organization for Indian American Muslims based in Washington DC, US. Established in 2002 they also keep an eye on issues dealing with Muslims in India. As you can see their main articles are driven by India-based issues.
IAMCouncil follows a code where they retweet Pieter’s tweet on the persecution of Christians and the other hand Friedrich does the same with the Muslim Genocide. Together they make a team. Every big issue raised by Pieter has got a mention of IAMCouncil. Starting from the #StopGenocideOfMuslims, #PersecutionOfChristians #FasicmOfRSS. Both of them share the same ideology that RSS and Modi government intend to vanish minorities (Muslim and Christian to be precise) in India.
Wondering how IAMCouncil and Pieter spread hate?
IAMCouncil often spread misleading tweets and they intend to play a victim card enormously. In the below-given tweet of IAMC, the organization condemns the behaviour of Hindu extremists in the Hubbali district of Karnataka State. In the whole tweet, IAMC victimized Christians and accused Hindus but they only showed half of the story.
https://twitter.com/IAMCouncil/status/1450162268658966534?s=20&t=edUEpGHIIBg0d8_YEWc7kQ
No wonder that Vishwa Hindu high-jacked the church in the Hubbali district of Karnataka but the story has a messed up angle both the parties Hindu hardliners and the Pastor of the church had filed a case against each other of assaulting and proselytizing respectively. At the end of the story, nobody individually was proven guilty but as per the news, many churches are on the radar of Karnataka Police regarding complaints of proselytizing which was quite not mentioned by the IAMC and Pieter Friedrich. Raising a voice against injustice is not wrong but presenting one part of the story and tweeting such biased tweets leads to communal hatred.
The Article of Morning Express explains it all.
Another Tweet where IAMC has endorsed sight of islamophobia in India to defame the nation on foreign grounds. The tweet made was on October 28, 2021, as an appeal to US president; Joe Biden to take any action against the Modi government for violence that took place in Tripura regarding Muslim Community.
https://twitter.com/IAMCouncil/status/1453723703171174405?s=20&t=Ek7T5sNgKidGddM9Cx_F_w
Most of us are well aware of the violence busted in Tripura against the Muslim community but let’s dig more and find out what happened. The rally was conducted by VHP and other members of Sangh Parivaar associates as a protest against the attack on Hindus by a Muslim mob in a neighbouring country Bangladesh, Temple and Hindu devotees were attacked in Chowmuhani, Noakhali district of Bangladesh which roughly is 25 km away from Tripura. The root cause of the protest was a rumour, “that the Quran had been insulted at a special pavilion set up for the annual Hindu religious festival of Durga Puja”. Nothing can change the loss of the Muslim community but the riot and rampage were created from both sides. All that can be said, it is a story whose half an angle is being shown as a weapon for spreading communal hatred. Thus IAMCouncil slanders about India’s ill-treatment towards minorities based on half portrayed stories in the international colonies.
Joint campaigns run by IAMCouncil and Pieter Friedrich
As mentioned IAMCouncil of India has started a hashtag known as #DismantlingHindutva, In DFRAC’s previous report, IAMC and Pieter Friedrich were two participants of the conference that was conducted by Dr Suchitra Vijayan along with renowned authors, academicians and activists. The protest has many reasons but the major one was the ‘Rise in Hindutva’ after the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act. Pieter and IAMCouncil also promoted the protest and hashtag on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/IAMCouncil/status/1436664693532336129?s=20&t=8ia9UOZeDlXnlTezXMdwUQ
Another tweet of IAMCouncil highlighted the point of Muslim lynching by Hindu Nationalists and suggests to Dismantle Hindutva.
https://twitter.com/IAMCouncil/status/1436302937953816581?s=20&t=xVBj3dyaUG82FQwKoqd7ZA
The conference was about the wrath of right-wing nationalists and they saw this conference to be an attack on Hindus. Several universities such as Rutgers eventually withdrew their support from the conference amidst these complaints. Hindu activist organizations from India sent letters and emails to the universities to withdraw their support.
You can go through Dfrac’s Dismantling of Global Hindutva for more information.
On the other hand, Anti-Propaganda Front concluded the conference as a way to defame India through a pie-chart.
#DismantlingGlobalHindutva conference was not just a simple event against Hinduism.
There is a larger conspiracy underneath. It is a hitjob against India. A conspiracy to create social tension.
And it had support of ISI and US Money (read SOROS)
Thread below ⬇️ (1/7) pic.twitter.com/NCfoYqaffR
— Anti Propaganda Front (@APF_Ind) September 17, 2021
Another big name, Ajit Sahi who is the advocacy director of Indian American Muslim Council, has shown support to Pieter’s book The Saffron Fascist where Pieter has claimed that RSS believes in the supremacy of Hinduism and how the Modi government is the new face of fascism. Ajit Sahi penned down his review on the book and wished Pieter good luck on the success of the book.
https://twitter.com/FriedrichPieter/status/1295893345609240577?s=20&t=4L8gdXL2dKl8k7GoWecAGA
Followers of Pieter
Pieter has more than 39K followers on Twitter. Some top followers include @asadowaisi, @anildash, @CynthiaDRitchie, @alfonslopeztena, @LrnAbtSexuality, etc. As per the data, most of Pieter’s followers are Anti-Modi.
Verified Followers:
Verified accounts like Asaduddin Owaisi & Priyamvada Gopal also follow Pieter Friedrich. Some of his followers are @asadowaisi, @anildash, @CynthiaDRitchie, @alfonslopeztena, @PriyamvadaGopal, @RamaNewDelhi, etc.
Network
Here is the network that shows all the users with whom Pieter interacted whether, in the form of a reply, tagging / mentioning, or quoting.
Digital representation of Pieter’s network
Conclusion
After reading the entire report, do you think Pieter Friedrich is just an Anti-RSS or a propagandist? What do you think that Pieter and IAMCouncil are just are raising their voice for the oppressed minorities in India or seeding a seed of communal hatred among the national and the international audience against India? Last but not least Pieter’s Ideology is followed and appreciated by renowned personalities, does it still makes him innocent and fair? Read. Analyze. React!
Siddharth Urmil 
