New Delhi, Sep 17 (IANS) : Pakistan may be preparing for a fresh attempt to escalate activities in Jammu and Kashmir, according to the latest intelligence inputs. While Indian security forces have intensified operations against terrorists and their infrastructure, Pakistan is simultaneously building a large-scale digital infiltration network.
In recent months, the security forces have inflicted severe damage on terror infrastructure. The security forces in the most recent operation conducted on Wednesday killed two terrorists at Majalta in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir.
This comes in the backdrop of an overground worker (OWG) network being busted in the Pir Panjal region.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that Pakistan has been trying hard to re-activate terror in the Valley and also facilitate large-scale infiltrations.
The success rate has, however, been low, and this has led the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) to launch a massive digital infiltration campaign in India, the official said.
The idea is to create a structured network that would not catch the attention of the agencies that easily.
Unemployed youths in India who are good at digital content creation are being targeted and being offered salaries in the range of Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000, the official said.
The brief to these recruits is to create content that is considered to be sensitive in India.
They are also being instructed to circulate the content in India and other parts of the world for better reach. This modus operandi does not involve any violence or planning. Further, these creators are told to work individually and not as a team. This helps in avoiding detection.
An official said that the content that these Pakistani handlers expect is of very high standards.
“The content needs to look professional, and strong points must be added to back their case. Most of the time such content could look like a normal discourse against the Indian system. However, as the reach grows, the content would get more aggressive,” the official said.
Unlike in the past, these digital creators are now less likely to produce content calling for violence or the establishment of Sharia law. Such material is also quickly reported and removed from platforms following appeals by the government.
“The intention is to pick issues that have created a controversy in the country and then keep amplifying the same,” the official added.
Another official said that issues relating to India’s security and also political discourses would be part of such content.
Many issues that died down many months ago are meant to re-appear on the web so that the people start talking about them again, the official added.
In the first phase of this modus operandi, the Pakistani handlers recruited just a handful of people. These recruits have been given the responsibility of finding more people and explaining the brief to them.
The primary targets have been those who can create good content and those who have experience in vlogging. For the first round of recruitment, normal advertisements were placed on social media platforms seeking applications online.
Many bit the bait as they were unemployed and the money that was offered sounded good. Further, the kind of content that they were asked to create did not look dangerous or suspicious.
Officials say that the nature of the content that these persons have been asked to create may look normal. But the volume at which it would be created is a cause for concern.
If these persons flood the internet with such content, it gives everyone the impression that there are only problems that are plaguing the country and nothing is moving forward. This is a long game that the ISI has planned to play in India.
The larger aim is to set and then control the narrative within the country through Indian recruits, an official said.
