ISI shifts propaganda playbook, uses foreign influencers to evade Indian agencies

New Delhi: In the aftermath of the Indian agencies cracking down heavily on Indian influencers who were promoting pro-Pakistan content, fresh Intelligence reports suggest that the ISI is reaching out to foreign nationals for this purpose.

Post Operation Sindoor, the agencies busted several modules that were promoting pro-Pakistan content. They were lured with a fancy lifestyle and vacations, among other perks, to put forward Pakistan’s propaganda.

However, scores of such influencers were arrested, and this led to the busting of a major pro-Pakistan propaganda wing of the ISI within India.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that the ISI has directed its stooges to scout for international influencers to push anti-India propaganda. The Pakistan spy agency has handed out a script to such influencers, which focuses on putting out content that is harmful to the Indian state, the official said.

Some of the content that these influencers are expected to speak on is Jammu and Kashmir and the Khalistan movement, and also abuse Indians. The ISI has been scouting for persons in the UK, Canada, Australia, among other nations. In exchange, these influencers are handed large sums of cash and even taken on sponsored and lavish trips to Pakistan and other countries, the official said.

An official said that while the Jammu and Kashmir issue remains the major script, there has been an increase in pro-Khalistan content that is being put out by these international influencers. Content promoting the proscribed pro-Khalistan terror outfit, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), has only increased in the last couple of months.

These influencers have been putting out detailed content about how Punjab should be separated from India and a Khalistan nation should be formed, the official said.

Another official said that the strategy is very clear. If an international audience is putting out such content, it tends to get noticed more. It also appears that the issues that the ISI has been pushing have been internationalised. This automatically makes the issue look very large, and people tend to take notice, the official noted.

The impact of similar content being put out by an Indian or a Pakistani is far lesser when compared to the ones by recruits from other foreign nations.

While the ISI always had its stooges across the globe, the push that is currently being made is much larger when compared to the earlier days. When a Pakistani puts out such content, it is easily dismissed as propaganda-driven or fake. An Indian putting out similar content is today easily debunked as compromised. This phenomenon is bigger, especially in the wake of the Indian agencies busting the major propaganda wing of the ISI using Indian influencers, officials say.

Further, tracking and bringing the international players to justice is much harder, as it would involve multiple exchanges by the agencies and several treaties would be at play.

When the scripts were initially handed out to these international stooges, there was an emphasis on driving a wedge within the Indian community by spreading hate and inciting communal tensions. However, the ISI has asked these influencers to back down on such scripts as the agenda becomes too obvious. Instead, issues in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab are being pushed with human rights angles. Titles, such as "India’s brutality in Punjab or Jammu and Kashmir", are being pushed heavily.

Such videos are heavily promoted by the Pakistan propaganda channels, and a large amount of money is spent to amplify such content so that it reaches a wider audience, officials say.

Another interesting aspect of this racket that the ISI is running is about how long the content remains on the internet. The videos are generated and soon posted.

However, after 15 days to one month, the ISI instructs these influencers to take down the content from social media. It is like a hit job that these elements are carrying out. By the time they have to take down the content, the damage is already done, and the narrative would have been set on social media.

This also helps in evasion, as the Indian agencies would find it harder to track the origin of such content, an official said.

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