The Pegasus Plot Thickens

The government staunchly denies allegations of having used foreign malware to snoop on private indian citizens. But the controversy has raised major concerns about violations of individual privacy and effective checks to prevent misuse of state power

- Sandeep Unnithan

IS THE INDIAN STATE RUNNING a mass surveillance programme, keeping tabs on journalists, human rights activists and opposition leaders along with its own ministers and key officials? This is the charge made by French news organisation Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International on July 18 in their serialised revelation of spying activities carried out by countries across the globe.

The ‘Pegasus Project’, a global consortium of 17 media organisations including Indian news website www.thewire.in, suggests India is among the 45 countries using a malware developed by the Israel-based NSO group. The purported snoop list includes 50,000 people and has phone numbers linked to at least 14 heads of state, like French president Emmanuel Macron and Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan.

According to The Washington Post, more than 1,000 phone numbers from India appeared on the list. The first list of names had 40 Indian journalists (including this writer) covering politics, foreign affairs and defence. A second list had the names of Opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi, election strategist Prashant Kishor, newly-appointed IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and top virologist Gagandeep Kang. Vaishnaw has denied the allegations, calling them “an attempt to malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions”. In a statement in the Lok Sabha on July 19 he maintained that, “When we look at this issue through the prism of logic, it clearly emerges that there is no substance behind this sensationalism.”

So, where did the database originate? There are no answers yet. On July 20, Laurent Richard, founder of Forbidden Stories, told India Today TV that the “numbers were entered in the system by NSO”.