Pakistan trying to ‘influence’ Indian Muslims to violate the Covid-19 lockdown: Delhi Police
New Delhi: As India continues to fight the onslaught of coronavirus, a ‘deliberate disinformation campaign’ is being run by Pakistan to ‘instigate’ Indian Muslims to violate the nationwide lockdown announced by the government, a Delhi Police report claims.
Earlier, Indian police officials had found that Pakistani social media handles had spread fake news among Muslims in India during the
riots in northeast Delhi in February end. According to Delhi Police sources, a similar campaign is now being carried out to disrupt the 21-day lockdown.
A report, titled ‘
Project Digital Vaccine: Weaponising Disinformation to Destroy COVID19 Lockdowns’, prepared by cyber experts of Delhi Police’s Special Branch, stated: “Several of the videos (circulated on social media in the last one week) appear to be shot in Pakistan and Middle East but audio in Hindi has been superimposed to create a Hindi video.”
“Videos of Muslims refusing to get themselves tested and beating medical personnel are also being spread with request to do the same and inspire other Muslim brothers. These disinformation/fake news videos watched by millions of users may end up influencing the thoughts of a large section of people in the targeted religion,” the report stated.
“Timely removal and quick rebuttal of such deliberate disinformation campaigns/fake news is required to ensure Indian citizens from all religions strictly follow the national mission of social distancing and adhere to the lockdown guidelines to avoid large gatherings,” according to the report, which has been accessed by this writer.
