Facebook accused of treason against India ahead of Lok Sabha election, case filed against Mark Zuckerberg

HIGHLIGHTS

• Lok Sabha elections 2019 are slated to being on April 11.
• Ahead of the polls, Facebook has been accused of treason.
• A case has been filed against Facebook for waging war against India.

Ahead of Lok Sabha election in India, Facebook is facing some tough time. A case has been filed against the social media company, accusing it of treason against the Indian state and waging a war against the country after it blocked and suspended hundreds of pages last week. Facebook claims that the pages were blocked or suspended because they were “engaging in behaviours that expressly violate our policies”. Many of these pages were openly aligned with BJP or Congress.

The case has been reportedly filed by Abhijit Iyer-Mitra. When a number of Facebook pages were blocked earlier in the beginning of the month, Mitra, who is a defence analyst, said on Twitter that he was consulting with his lawyers to file a case against Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg for interfering in Indian elections.

Now a case has been reportedly filed at the Sansad Marg police station in Delhi, accusing Facebook of waging war against India. A report on this matter claims that Mitra’s complaint notes Facebook needs to be punished because of its attempts “to interfere in the internal process of elections in India at the behest of foreign powers — including but not limited to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)”. The complaint also mentioned Cambridge Analytica scandal that led to many in the UK and US to allege that Facebook and the data it collected from users was used to influence elections in several countries.

The case against Facebook has been filed under section 121 and section 120B of IPC. The section 121 is specifically used to file cases where there are allegations of a person or organisation waging a war against the Indian state. If found guilty, convicts are “punished with death, or imprisonment for life” under this section. In the complaint filed with the police, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook India MD Ajit Mohan have been mentioned.

On April 8, Facebook announced that it was taking several steps to prepare for the Indian elections. In a note to media the company said, “Last week, we removed nearly 700 Pages, Groups and accounts in India for violating Facebook’s policies on coordinated inauthentic behavior and spam… For a year and a half we’ve been working to bring a comprehensive and strategic approach to our work on the Indian elections. We are absolutely committed to maintaining the integrity of the elections in India and will continue to work with local organizations, government groups and experts to make that happen.”

 

Article Originally Posted on India Today

Did India Shoot Down a Pakistani Jet? U.S. Count Says No.

India’s claim that one of its fighter pilots shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet in an aerial battle between the two nuclear powers in February appears to be wrong. Two senior U.S. defense officials with direct knowledge of the situation told Foreign Policy that U.S. personnel recently counted Islamabad’s F-16s and found none missing.

The findings directly contradict the account of Indian Air Force officials, who said that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman managed to shoot down a Pakistani F-16 before his own plane was downed by a Pakistani missile.

It is possible that in the heat of combat, Varthaman, flying a vintage MiG-21 Bison, got a lock on the Pakistani F-16, fired, and genuinely believed he scored a hit. But the count, conducted by U.S. authorities on the ground in Pakistan, sheds doubt on New Delhi’s version of events, suggesting that Indian authorities may have misled the international community about what happened that day.

The news comes just days before the start of India’s general elections, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking another term in office. In the weeks leading up to the election, tensions between India and Pakistan escalated to levels not seen in decades after a Pakistan-based militant group killed more than 40 Indian security officers in a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in India-controlled Kashmir. Both sides have been accused of spreading disinformation and fanning nationalistic flames.

Although the news likely won’t sway Indian voters, Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at MIT, said the way the events have unfolded may affect India’s efforts to deter Pakistan in the future.

“As details come out, it looks worse and worse for the Indians,” Narang said. “It looks increasingly like India failed to impose significant costs on Pakistan, but lost a plane and a helicopter of its own in the process.”

The dogfight between the two nations occurred on Feb. 27, when India says a group of Pakistani jets entered its airspace in response to the first Indian air raid on Pakistani territory since a 1971 war. India scrambled its own jets and gave chase. During the aerial battle that ensued, Varthaman took a missile hit and ejected safely into Pakistani territory.

He was captured by the Pakistani army and released days later in an effort to de-escalate the crisis.

One of the senior U.S. defense officials with direct knowledge of the count said that Pakistan invited the United States to physically count its F-16 planes after the incident as part of an end-user agreement signed when the foreign military sale was finalized. Generally in such agreements, the United States requires the receiving country to allow U.S. officials to inspect the equipment regularly to ensure it is accounted for and protected.

Some of the aircraft were not immediately available for inspection due to the conflict, so it took U.S. personnel several weeks to account for all of the jets, the official said.

But now the count has been completed, and “all aircraft were present and accounted for,” the official said.

 

Original News taken from Foreign Policy

 

No Pakistani link found in Pulwama attack: FO

The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday said that it had found no linkages between militants swept up in a recent dragnet and a suicide attack in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) that brought Pakistan and India to the brink of war last month.

FO Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal, in his weekly press briefing, said that India had provided Pakistani officials with a list of 90 suspected militants and 22 locations of alleged training camps.

“While 54 detained individuals are being investigated, no details linking them to Pulwama have been found so far,” the FO commented.

“Similarly, the 22 pin locations shared by India have been examined. No such camps exist,” Faisal clarified, adding that Pakistan had thoroughly examined the dossier sent by India.

The FO statement read that Pakistan was “willing to allow visits, on request, to these locations”.

Tensions between old foes Pakistan and India soared after the suicide bombing, which killed 40 Indian security personnel and was later allegedly claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

Pakistan, long accused by India of using militant proxies in the occupied Kashmir, denied it was involved in the attack.

The US also appeared to increase pressure on Islamabad this week, circulating a draft resolution to the UN Security Council (UNSC) that would blacklist JeM chief Masood Azhar. Faisal, during the presser, added that the matter regarding Azhar is currently under consideration and that “it was not feasible to yet involve the UNSC”.

In Thursday’s address, the FO welcomed actionable evidence from India in order to investigate the Pulwama attack. “We have informed them that we are ready to cooperate in a transparent manner if they provide us further evidence,” he said.

Earlier in March, China blocked a request to blacklist Azhar, and the move by Washington sets up a potential clash with Beijing.

It comes as tensions between Pakistan and India were ratcheted-up again this week after New Delhi announced it had destroyed a low-orbiting satellite in a missile test on Wednesday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the anti-satellite missile test was peaceful and not designed to create “an atmosphere of war”.

But analysts said it would not go unnoticed in Pakistan and China and could be interpreted as a show of Delhi’s advancing military capabilities.

 

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The Express Tribune

CPEC – A SPEARHEAD IN THE HEART OF FOES

The project which made the nights sleepless for India is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Since the inception of the project, India by way or the other is trying to sabotage the project perceiving or apprehending the importance of the project.

It was circulated in the news that India has given the special task to its intelligence agency RAW to find out ways to hamper the progress of the project and carves the vicious schemes and plots to derail the multi-billion dollars project. Therefore, politicians are calling for APC to express their apprehensions and reservations for making the route controversial and finding mongers of corruption in it.

These political forces bite the hand who feeds them. They are those who wants to die down any streak of hope which may bring the glimmer of hope in changing the fate of the people. They do not want or they cannot see the prosperity and progress of Pakistan. Whenever they find a wind of change in the rotten and suffocated scenario of the country, they emerge on the scene with their negative and malicious design.

India at one end is using our political source to make the project a forbidden tree just like Kala Baagh Dam project and on the other end is funding Pakistani media to highlight the project as a negative development in the region that it is being propagated that as this project may effect strategic balance in the region and the route passing through Azad Jammu and Kashmir is the violence of international laws. And among provinces, it is being injected that it is only China-Punjab project and the major area which will be benefitted from the project is Punjab and the interest of smaller provinces have not kept in mind while approving the project.

When all these fake and negative apprehensions could not suffice, India claims to build a parallel port at Chabahar (Iran) pulling Iran and Afghanistan under its flag.

Instead of all these leg pullings and propagandas, the work on CPEC is going on with verve and vigour and not only the government is endeavoring hard to complete the project in time but Pak Army under the strong command of General Raheel Sharif has also shown firm resolve to safeguard the interests of the country and putting the CPEC project on the verge of completion.

GENERAL RAHEEL SHARIF – THE GIFT THAT KEPT GIVING

General Raheel Sharif has a long list of success and achievements marking his tenure as Chief of Army Staff.

The biggest credit to Gen Sharif is that he did not overthrow an elected government during the sit-ins staged by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT).

The fact of the matter is that even many federal ministers believed that the military was all set to take over the reins of the country, as the ruling party had become very unpopular. However, it was Gen Raheel Sharif’s sagacity and professional approach, which led to him strictly following the constitutional ambit, and rejecting all sorts of temptations from various quarters.

Operation Zarb-eAzb is the COAS’s second biggest achievement. This is when the military for the first time not only entered the most rugged North Waziristan Agency but also eliminated terrorist networks and infrastructure.

The military was also instrumental in cleansing the remnants of al Qaeda, Haqqani Network, East Turkistan Independence Movement (ETIM), Daesh (Islamic State) and many others. All those terrorists were either killed or forced to slip into Afghanistan, crossing the Pak-Afghan bordering areas.

Only one and a half year after the start of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, phenomenal successes were achieved. The last pockets of terrorists close to Pak – Afghan Border are being cleared; terrorists’ backbone was broken; their main infrastructure was dismantled; the nexus with sleeper cells largely disrupted; and Intelligence Based Operations (IBOs) continue to burst remaining sleeper cells.

According to the ISPR, 3,400 terrorists were killed, 837 hideouts – from where they were carrying out their terrorists activities – were destroyed. During the last 18 month, over 13,200 IBOs were carried out across the country, in which 183 hardcore terrorists were killed and 21,193 arrested. IBOs continued even after this.

However, the success came at a heavy price – 488 valiant officers and men from the Pakistan Army, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan Frontier Corps, and Sindh Rangers, sacrificed their lives, while 1,914 were injured during the course of the operation.

The support of entire nation for its valiant armed forces, and the resolve expressed against terrorism after the December 2014 attack on Army Public School Peshawar, fuelled the operation further.

Gen Sharif also has the credit of bringing on one platform all political parties, who have backed the army’s operations. Moreover, the National Action Plan (NAP) is another success as all the political outfits got together and supported the move.

The political and military leadership also agreed to install 11 military courts under a civilian rule for the first time in the country’s history. 142 cases were referred to military courts and 55 cases decided, 87 cases are in process, while 31 hardcore terrorists have been convicted.

Another feather is his cap is the Karachi Operation, where proscribed organisations once had the last word on the life and properties of the common public, while security forces remained under constant threat.

However, within a year or so, Karachi has returned to normalcy and the military operations have witnessed phenomenal success. Peace has boosted business activity in the port city of Karachi where terrorist and political crimes are being tackled with an iron fist.

The Balochistan operation is another success story where for the first time the civilian leadership was allowed to lead the operation and the army, FC and other law enforces supported it. Peace has also returned to Balochistan and all private militias, religious and sectarian terrorist groups have been targeted equally.

Another success of General Raheel Sharif was revival of festivities and national events in FATA and Balochistan. After decades, Independence Day and March 23 were celebrated and THE Pakistani flag was hoisted with zeal and fervour.

Prospering Balochistan

Balochistan is one of the richest province of Pakistan due natural resources and Gwadar Port. Balochistan is bordering the regions of the Middle East, Southwest Asia, Central Asia and South Asia providing the shortest route from seaports to Central Asia. The geo strategic location of Balochistan is very important and its location is the key for its progress.

Pak-China Economic Corridor (CPEC) focuses on Balochistan and it will not only benefit Pakistan, but will also help in economic growth and development of whole region. There will be economic activity in Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asian countries and it is connecting South and Central Asia as well Middle East.

Balochistan is gold mine and with such important geostrategic location, it has always been a threat for our neighboring countries. In order to disrupt CPEC, India is already funding proxies in Pakistan. Earlier it is being accepted by Indian foreign minister that India is fighting against Pakistan through terrorism. For peace and stability in this region, CPEC is important for flourishing economic activity in the region.

India should realize that 1/3 of this region’s population will be benefited from CPEC. Instead of funding proxies and sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan, India should focus on development of its population.

The insurgency in Balochistan, which is caused by separatists groups (i.e. BLA, BLF etc) is being successfully dealt with operations conducted by FC Balochistan and it has forced the separatists to run away from Balochistan. Many insurgents have surrendered themselves and committed to not work against State anymore. Along with these operations. CPEC is the best initiative for progressing Balochistan, and this could not have been possible without armed forces contribution.

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF COAS UPCOMING VISIT TO US

Pakistan is in the limelight again, after the visit of PM Nawaz Sharif to United State, world is now looking at the upcoming visit of COAS Gen. Raheel Sharif to United States.  This visit is viewed of high significance in the strategic landscape of Pakistan and South Asian region as expectations are more focused towards regional symmetry and equilibrium. Forthcoming visit of COAS has importance on national as well as international level. These multiple factors are making this visit more interesting.

National scenario of this upcoming visit has its own worth and impact. It is very obvious that there will be distinguished difference between PM visit and COAS visit to United stated and visit of Army Chief Gen. Raheel Sharif has much possibility to bring meaningful results. Presently, Popularity and trust graph of military leadership is much high as compared to political leadership, by bagging this in mind, one can optimize that Pak military command will represent Pakistan and its  issues more aptly in United states. While having thought of wide-reaching significance of following visit, three major issues float in the minds 1. Afghanistan Issue which is of more in US interests. USA is preparing ground for easing its force out of Afghanistan. 2. Issues of Pakistan Nuclear weapons, it is considered as national issue but have some strategic impacts at international level. US being the frontline vocalist of non-proliferation will not support Pakistan in developing its nuclear program. There is a possibility that US might offer any nuclear deal to limit Pakistan’s nuclear program. 3. Not surprisingly, USA will again ready to fight Indian case in front of Pakistan.

Not only national but International media is busy in giving spice to this upcoming visit, particularly Indian media. By analyzing, the attitude of Indian media, one can understand that India is feeling heat from this visit. In recent visit of PM Nawaz Sharif he presented dossier against Indian involvement in terror activities in Baluchistan and other provinces of Pakistan. Indian pattern is not to accepting their mistakes; they are annoyed with this act of Pakistan. In reaction to this step of Pakistan, India is making efforts to influence US positive approach towards Pakistan.

Indian media is tiring in publishing much anti-Pakistan content these days. They are hitting two issues more forcefully, issues enclosing are safety and security of Pakistan nuclear weapons and terrorism especially in milieu of Taliban and instability in Afghanistan. In sight of afghan Taliban and peace bringing in Afghanistan, Pakistan has always supported establishment of peace but joint efforts of all stakeholders is what, which is always missing from the vision of peace talks between Taliban and Afghan government. Having the porous border the stability in both states is linked to each other.

As far as US and India are concerned, Pakistan should send firm stance against Indian terrorism in front of their biggest supporter. Pakistan should come up with transformed dimension by raising issue of water terrorism by India especially on the water of Kashmir. India has been in effort to establish its supremacy in the region by getting control on water sources. India has water dispute with Pakistan and it can be called as water terrorist as distraction or contagion of water supplies amounts to water terrorism. Pakistan is facing serious difficulties in the agricultural and power sector because of a water grabber country like India. India is using water as an instrument of war. India evil strategy of constructing barrages and dams on water sources is utter violation of international water pacts. Pakistan needs to raise water issue as geo-strategic matter besides Indian terror proxy role in the region. Water issue should be considered as most important agenda of the meeting.

Presently, US interests and Pakistan’s Interest are going side by side. No one can pragmatically deny the importance of Pakistan by asserting that US doesn’t need Pakistan to sooth her objectives in Afghanistan and to counter the growing influence of china. Pakistan need to cash this moment. This scenario can give Pakistan some space for negotiating. The visit’s outcomes should be in win-win situation for both countries. If US will offer nuclear talks, Pakistan will need to stress to maintain strategic balance with India. Pakistan cannot afford any compromise on its nuclear program and national security.

Pakistan’s elite SSG troops top list of world’s most formidable special units

Pakistan’s elite special forces unit, army’s Special Services Group (SSG) has been listed as the best special forces group, ahead of units such as the US Navy SEALs and the British Special Air Service group.

The list, by Business Insider Australia ranked Pakistani commandos as the best of the nine top elite forces from around the world.

Called the ‘Black Storks’, due to the unique headgear worn, soldiers in the unit have to complete a 36-mile march in just 12 hours and a five-mile run in 20 minutes in full gear.

For operational reference, it mentioned the 2009 operation that the SSG conducted to rescue the 39 people held hostage by suspected Taliban militants who had attacked the army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi.

The SSG have been deployed in a number of operations in Pakistan from prison takeovers, to fighting terrorists in North Waziristan.

Other forces making the list

Coming in second on the list were Spain’s Naval Special Warfare Force, and was called as one of Europe’s best respected special forces.

Next in line was Russia’s Naval Special Warfare Force ‘Alpha Group’, serving as the nation’s elite anti-terrorism unit.

France’s fabled 200-strong National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN), trained especially to respond to hostage situations, came in on four.

Israel’s Sayeret Matkal made it to the fifth spot. Its primary purpose is intelligence-gathering and operating deep behind enemy lines. Along with Mossad, it is suspected to have aided in carrying out a hit in Dubai using falsified passports.

The British Special Air Service (SAS), who have the famous motto ‘Who dares wins’, were listed on number six.

The UK equivalent of the Navy SEALs, Special Boat Service, came in on number seven. The unit specialises in intense training and interrogation.

The US Navy SEALS, a special unit of which carried out Operation Neptune Spear to kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in 2011 were listed on eight.

To join the SEALS, one has to prove they are the toughest warriors around and they are asked to prove this by completing a minimum of 42 push-ups in two minutes, 50 sit-ups in two minutes, and run 1.5 miles in 11 minutes before they even start training.

The last one on the list are the US Marines. It is an odd listing since they are not considered an elite unit.

They have a reputation of being pretty tough in their own right.

Marines undergo weeks of rigorous training exercises especially designed to overcome those who cannot hit their exacting standards.

Obama eased rules for drone strikes in Pakistan

US President Barak Obama secretly approved a waiver for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) drone programme in Pakistan, doing away with certain requirements that were meant to reduce the risk of civilian deaths, the Wall Street Journal reported.

While Obama required the CIA to demonstrate that proposed targets posed an imminent threat to the US for drone strikes in countries like Yemen and Somalia, the US spy body was exempt from this rule for drone operations in Pakistan.

The revelations come to light after the recent admission and apology by the US president that American aid worker Warren Weinstein and Italian Giovanni Lo Porto who were killed by a US drone strike. Had there been no exemption, the CIA would have been required to gather more intelligence before conducting the strike, the report noted.

“Our initial assessment indicates that this operation was fully consistent with the guidelines under which we conduct counterterrorism efforts in the region,” Obama had said in his April 23 apology, but did not specify what the guidelines were or how they differed compared to drone strikes in other regions.

According to the Wall Street Journal report, current and former US officials have also noted that many of the changes regarding drone strikes that Obama called for in 2013, haven’t yet been implemented.

Some of the rules spelled out by Obama were that the US had to have “near-certainty” no civilians would be injured or killed and that the threat to the US needed to be imminent.

The CIA drone program in Pakistan was exempted from the “imminent threat” requirement, at least until US forces pulled out from Afghanistan, the report stated.

The exemption means that the CIA can conduct ‘signature strikes’ – a type of drone strike in which the US believes an individual is a militant, but does not know his identity – and more targeted attacks without collecting specific evidence that the target poses an imminent threat to the US.

Military courts sentence six terrorists to death: ISPR

The army chief has confirmed that six hardcore terrorists have been tried by the recently-formed military courts and sentenced to death, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Thursday.

According to DG ISPR Major General Asim Bajwa, the convicts were involved in “heinous acts of terror, manslaughter and suicide bombing,” among other crimes.

Although identities of the convicts were not mentioned, this is the first instance where the military courts prosecuted terrorists following the December 16 massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar.

The convicts also have a right to appeal, teh military spokesperson added.

Military courts were established as part of the National Action Plan against terrorism, after a brutal attack on an army-run school in Peshawar killed over 130 people, mostly schoolchildren.