Khalistan groups reportedly carried out a synchronised cyber campaign on Twitter days before the Ludhiana court complex blast that took place on Dec 23. The Sikh radical groups got help from Pakistan’s ISI in running this campaign, The Week reported quoting intelligence agency reports.
The 'Twitter warfare' was started from Pakistan and it began on December 16, which Bangladesh celebrates as the ‘Victory Day’ after Dhaka had won the 1971 war with Islamabad. A group named Mohabbat Mafia had carried out the campaign using an account named Shafqat Ch. The Shafqat Ch account had shared a hashtag on tweet which read 'DhakatoKhalistan'. “Time is turning around. Dhaka 1971 is going to repeat itself on other side. To Khalistan and lot other separate states,” the account posted a tweet, the report added.
The synchronised Twitter campaign was a new fifth-generation warfare technique by Pakistan and it aimed to use social media tools to foster separatism and extremism, the report said. The intelligence report says that the tweet was a signal to all anti-India groups like Khalistan sympathisers and other outfits that are keen to attack India and make Khalistan. The DhakatoKhalistan hashtag had garnered 9,566 tweets, 60,679 retweets by 3,736 handles until December 17.
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The intelligence agencies also cited a letter written by the face of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), Gurpatwant Singh Pannun to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on December 16 asking for Islamabad's support towards the cause of ‘fall of Delhi’, just like the ‘fall of Dhaka’ in 1971. The anti-India agencies wanted to avenge the loss that Pakistan had faced because of India during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. The anti-India outfits plan to use modern tools like cyber propaganda and misinformation campaigns.
“The idea was simple, use as many images to provoke Indians, put out maps of Khalistan, fake images to create a sense of support for the cause and use the opportunity to gain as many followers for the group involved in trending the hashtag,” the intelligence agency official told The Week.
Intelligence agencies also dug out deleted tweets using various technological tools and analysed the profiles of the accounts running the campaign. The analysis indicated that the campaign had shifted to trending #Pakistanfirst. All the accounts related to this hashtag were supporters of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf, the intelligence revealed.
