Pakistan’s spy agencies accused of spreading anti-India disinformation amid Bangladesh unrest

Dhaka [Bangladesh], August 7 (ANI): Amid the ongoing unrest in Bangladesh, reports have emerged of false narratives being created through social media to fuel anti-India sentiments among the people.

Various X accounts have been found spreading disinformation about India in Bangladesh, aimed at instigating Bangladeshis against Indians.

One account, @IntelPk_, posted on X, “#Breaking: 30 Indian Intelligence Agency RAW Officers in Bangladesh Army Uniform Attempting to Flee, Search for More Continues.”

This post was subsequently reposted by numerous other fake X accounts. Another account, @sabriaballand, posted on X, “This point cannot be reiterated enough. RAW agents wear Bangladeshi military & police uniforms & commit atrocities in #Bangladesh.”

Additionally, @swwtyzm posted a picture on X, captioning it, “Is this a verified picture of Indian RAW agents in Bangladesh captured by the Bangladesh army?”

Suvrokamal Dutta, an International Conservative Political Expert based in India, described this as malicious propaganda orchestrated by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), supported by its army and media, to fuel anti-India hatred in Bangladesh and turn the country into another jihadist Pakistan.

He said, “The whole world knows about the nasty games played by Pakistan’s ISI and its army in toppling a legitimate, secular, and democratic government of Sheikh Hasina with active support from the BNP and the Jamaat in Bangladesh. So, this is nothing but another nasty ploy by Pakistan to defame India and raise anti-India sentiments in Bangladesh.”

D-Intent Data, a fact-checking group, also exposed this fake narrative and posted on X, “FACT: a video of an airport where uniformed men can be seen is being shared with a misleading claim that those are the Indian army at the Bangladesh airport. The fact is those are Bangladesh’s Airport Armed Police Battalion (AAP).”

It said that the protagonists intend to spread fake news targeting the Indian Army to set a narrative about the ongoing unrest in Bangladesh.

Priyajit Debsarkar, an independent geopolitical analyst based in London, said, “The present situation in Bangladesh is highly alarming. And it is not only a threat to neighbouring India but also to the larger Southeast Asia and beyond.”

He added, “Use of misinformation and disinformation has been effectively deployed internationally to tarnish the image of Indian security agencies as a revenge manoeuvre to get some comfort from what happened fifty-three years ago, on 16 December 1971.”

Speaking to ANI, Debsarkar said, “The Pakistani deep state might be jubilant in the short term but the pluralistic principles and other like-minded people of Bangladesh, including the civil society, will definitely overcome this challenge and not let the country slide on a slippery slope towards fundamentalists and those who believe against the core principles of Bengali culture and identity.”