Microsoft Threat Intelligence analysts named the threat group as “DEV-0196” linked to Israel-based private sector offensive actor (PSOA) known as QuaDream….reports Asian Lite News
The fear of Pegasus-style spyware attack resurfaced on Tuesday after researchers at Microsoft and the digital rights group Citizen Lab identified new victims in North America, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East — once again from an Israel-based spyware maker.
Hackers used QuaDream spyware to send malicious calendar invites and hack the iPhones of journalists, political opposition figures, and an NGO worker.
“Based on an analysis of samples shared with us by Microsoft Threat Intelligence, we developed indicators that enabled us to identify at least five civil society victims of QuaDream’s spyware,” Citizen Lab said in a statement.
The researchers identified traces of a suspected iOS 14 zero-click exploit used to deploy QuaDream’s spyware.
The exploit was deployed as a zero-day against iOS versions 14.4 and 14.4.2, and possibly other versions.
“The suspected exploit, which we call ‘ENDOFDAYS’, appears to make use of invisible iCloud calendar invitations sent from the spyware’s operator to victims,” said Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto’s Munk School.
Microsoft Threat Intelligence analysts named the threat group as “DEV-0196” linked to Israel-based private sector offensive actor (PSOA) known as QuaDream.
QuaDream reportedly sells a platform they call REIGN to governments for law enforcement purposes. REIGN is a suite of exploits, malware, and infrastructure designed to exfiltrate data from mobile devices.
REIGN, like NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, reportedly utilises zero-click exploits to hack into target devices.
“Citizen Lab was able to identify operator locations for QuaDream systems in the following countries: Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Ghana, Israel, Mexico, Romania, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan,” the tech giant revealed.
QuaDream has had a partnership with a Cypriot company called InReach, with whom it is currently embroiled in a legal dispute.
“Numerous key individuals associated with both companies have prior connections with another surveillance vendor, Verint, as well as Israeli intelligence agencies,” the reports mentioned.
An Apple spokesperson was quoted as saying in a TechCrunch report that “there’s no evidence showing the exploit discovered by Microsoft and Citizen Lab has been used after March 2021, when the company released an update”.
QuaDream was mentioned in a December 2022 report from Meta, which reportedly took down 250 accounts associated with the company.
According to the report, Meta observed QuaDream testing its ability to exploit iOS and Android mobile devices with the intent “to exfiltrate various types of data including messages, images, video and audio files, and geolocation”.
The Supreme Court said it will ascertain those portions of the Pegasus panel report that can be made public, and adjourned the case for four weeks…reports Asian Lite News
The government did not cooperate with the investigation into the Pegasus spyware cases, the panel report said. The Supreme Court on Thursday began hearing the Pegasus spyware cases as Chief Justice NV Ramana went through the report of the panel comprising three parts.
“Some part of the Pegasus panel report is confidential and may also contain private information, says CJI, adding the committee is of the view that technical committee reports may not be made public,” Justice Ramana said.
There was inclusive evidence on the presence of Pegasus spyware in any of the 29 phones scanned by the Pegasus panel, Some malware were found in five phones but nothing conclusive to show it was Pegasus, the report said.
The Supreme Court said it will ascertain those portions of the Pegasus panel report that can be made public, and adjourned the case for four weeks.
The three parts of the report include one by the technical committee on para 61A of the order of the court with digital images; two, the report of the technical committee on matters on para 61B of the order; three, a report of the overseeing judge on matters on para 61C.
As the CJI mentioned the part of the government’s “non-cooperation” with the probe, he said, “The same stand you took here, you have taken there”. To this, the Solicitor General said he was not aware of it.
Canada-based Citizen Lab reveals that Pegasus spyware accessed No 10
No10 was hit by a suspected spyware attack in 2020 and 2021, using the Israeli NSO Group’s controversial Pegasus software. According to a report released by the tech organisation Citizen Lab, Johnson’s Downing Street office was hit by “multiple” suspected infections.
Citizen Lab said it suspected the spyware attacks targeting Number 10 Downing Street were orchestrated by the United Arab Emirates.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Number 10 Downing Street. Picture by Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street
“We confirm that in 2020 and 2021 we observed and notified the government of the United Kingdom of multiple suspected instances of Pegasus spyware infections within official UK networks,” the group said in a statement.
“These included: the prime minister’s office (10 Downing Street) [and] the Foreign and Commonwealth Office … The suspected infection at the UK prime minister’s office was associated with a Pegasus operator we link to the UAE.”
They added that their researchers were not able to identify the specific individuals within these bodies that had been hacked.
“Because the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and its successor office, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development office (FCDO), have personnel in many countries, the suspected FCO infections we observed could have related to FCO devices located abroad and using foreign SIM cards, similar to the hacking of foreign phone numbers used by US State Department employees in Uganda in 2021.
“The United Kingdom is currently in the midst of several ongoing legislative and judicial efforts relating to regulatory questions surrounding cyber policy, as well as redress for spyware victims. We believe that it is critically important that such efforts are allowed to unfold free from the undue influence of spyware. Given that a UK-based lawyer involved in a lawsuit against NSO Group was hacked with Pegasus in 2019, we felt compelled to ensure that the UK Government was aware of the ongoing spyware threat, and took appropriate action to mitigate it,” said Ron Deibert, Director of the Citizen Lab and Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.
The Pegasus software allows governments to access the phones or laptops of activists and journalists worldwide, allowing operators to view messages, contacts, the camera, microphone, and location history.
Since the investigation into the global use of the illegal spyware in governments such as Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, the NSO Group has said that they have no control over how clients use their products or have access to any data they collect and claim to have safeguards in place.
In November 2021, the US blacklisted the NSO Group after saying its activities went against its national security interests.
In a statement to The Guardian, the NSO Group said criticism against their company by groups like Citizen Lab was “politically motivated”.
“We have repeatedly cooperated with governmental investigations, where credible allegations merit. However, information raised regarding these allegations are, yet again, false and could not be related to NSO products for technological and contractual reasons,” said a spokesperson.
The panel had earlier said that only two people submitted their mobiles phones with it for forensic examination…reports Asian Lite News
The Pegasus panel, appointed by the Supreme Court, is learnt to have submitted an interim report appraising the apex court about the progress on the probe.
According to sources familiar with the development, the panel has submitted an interim report in the apex court. A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli will take up the petitions in the matter on February 23.
The panel had earlier said that only two people submitted their mobiles phones with it for forensic examination.
On October 27 last year, the top court said it was compelled to take up the cause to determine the truth, as it appointed an independent expert technical committee supervised by a retired top court judge, Justice R.V. Raveendran, to probe the Pegasus snooping allegations.
The top court had authorised the technical committee to devise its own procedure to effectively implement and answer the terms of reference. The committee can hold an investigation it deems fit and take statements of any person in connection with the inquiry and call for records of any authority or individual.
Justice Raveendran is overseeing the functioning of the technical committee and he is assisted by Alok Joshi, former IPS officer and Dr Sundeep Oberoi, Chairman, Sub Committee in International Organisation of Standardisation/International Electro-Technical Commission/Joint Technical Committee.
The three members of the technical committee are Dr Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Professor (Cyber Security and Digital Forensics) and Dean, National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, Dr Prabaharan P., Professor (School of Engineering), Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri, Kerala, and Dr Ashwin Anil Gumaste, Institute Chair, Associate Professor (Computer Science and Engineering), Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
A batch of petitions including those by advocate M.L. Sharma, CPI-M MP John Brittas, journalist N. Ram, former IIM professor Jagdeep Chokkar, Narendra Mishra, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Rupesh Kumar Singh, S.N.M. Abdi and Editors Guild of India were filed seeking an independent probe into the Pegasus snooping allegations.
The Israeli government announced it would investigate claims that the police had used spyware created by companies including the NSO Group, a surveillance firm that has drawn global criticism, against its citizens without court order…reports Asian Lite News
On Monday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the deputy attorney general was “looking quickly into” the claims, while the Public Security Minister Omer Barlev said he would begin an official state inquiry.
The efforts reflect Israel’s most significant interventions in the NSO controversy since the Israeli firm began attracting global scrutiny nearly six years ago, the report said.
The allegations have caused a brief delay in the corruption trial of Benjamin Netanyahu, Bennett’s predecessor, amid claims that the police illegally hacked the phone of a key trial witness.
Netanyahu’s allies have called for the trial to be scrapped entirely, The New York Times reported.
The moves reflected the rising concerns about the use of NSO products within Israel, where the company – blacklisted in the US and long a target of criticism outside Israel – was for years spared significant domestic scrutiny because it was not widely seen as a threat to Israeli citizens.
News organisations and watchdogs have exposed how NSO’s flagship product, Pegasus, was sold with the permission of the Israeli Defence Ministry to authoritarian governments who used it to hack the phones of foreign activists, lawyers and politicians. Palestinian officials have also accused the Israeli government itself of using the spyware against Palestinians.
The New York Times recently reported how Netanyahu’s government used the sale of the product to extract political favors from foreign countries, a claim Netanyahu denied.
The Times also found that the US government bought but never used NSO spyware, before outlawing the company last year.
Within Israel, the company and its products have attracted less attention – until Israeli outlets led by Calcalist, a business daily, began to report last month on claims that the Israeli police had used Pegasus to extract information and data from the phones of Israeli activists, local politicians, businessmen, civil servants, and both critics and associates of Netanyahu, the report said.
The police were accused of either bypassing judicial oversight altogether, or of deploying spyware from NSO and other companies to extract data after judges had permitted only its use to monitor voice calls, NYT reported.
Officials in the new Israeli government, under Bennett, who took over last June, initially denied the claims. But they subsequently issued more ambiguous statements in which officials acknowledged they were looking into possible irregularities, as per the report.
Bennett said Monday that “the reports about Pegasus, if they are true, are very serious”.
Spyware products like Pegasus, he added, “are important tools in the fight against terrorism and severe crime, but they were not intended to be used in phishing campaigns targeting the Israeli public or officials – which is why we need to understand exactly what happened”.
A leading lawmaker from Netanyahu’s party, Israel Katz, said the allegations meant that the Netanyahu trial should be frozen until the results of a parliamentary inquiry. But current ministers highlighted how the wiretapping happened during the tenure of Netanyahu’s own government, The New York Times reported.
Pegasus is capable of silently infecting phones and accessing camera and microphone feeds, contacts, texts, and more….reports Asian Lite News
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reportedly confirmed that it had a license to use Israeli company NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware and it tested out the software’s capabilities.
According to The Washington Post, the FBI insisted that the software was never used “in support of any investigation”.
The report, however, said that there were at least discussions within the Bureau and Department of Justice about how the FBI might go about deploying the spyware.
Pegasus is capable of silently infecting phones and accessing camera and microphone feeds, contacts, texts, and more.
“It’s a worrying detail — NSO has repeatedly claimed that Pegasus cannot be used on phone numbers with a +1 country code and is only allowed to be used in countries outside the US,” The Verge said late on Wednesday.
The FBI didn’t confirm other details, such as the allegation that it had racked up a $5 million bill with NSO and that it renewed a contract for Pegasus at one point.
The FBI reiterated a statement that it will “routinely identify, evaluate, and test technical solutions and problems for a variety of reasons, including possible operational and security concerns they might pose in the wrong hands”.
The NSO Group has been blacklisted by the US government on doing business with tech companies based in the country.
Tech giant Apple in November 2021 filed a lawsuit against the NSO Group, seeking a permanent injunction to ban the Israeli company from using any Apple software, services or devices.
Apple admitted that a small number of its users may have been targeted by a NSO Group’s exploit to install Pegasus on Apple devices.
Apple also sent threat notification alerts to victims of state-sponsored hackers, beginning with Thailand, El Salvador and Uganda.
Through a series of new deals, Pegasus was helping to knit together a rising generation of right-wing leaders worldwide…reports Asian Lite News
A year-long New York Times investigation, including dozens of interviews with government officials, leaders of intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, cyberweapons experts, business executives and privacy activists in a dozen countries, reports Asian Lite News
India bought Pegasus spyware from Israel as part of a defence deal worth $2 billion in 2017, The New York Times has reported.
Through a series of new deals, Pegasus was helping to knit together a rising generation of right-wing leaders worldwide, the report said.
“In July 2017, Narendra Modi, who won office on a platform of Hindu nationalism, became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel. For decades, India had maintained a policy of what it called ‘commitment to the Palestinian cause’, and relations with Israel were frosty. The Modi visit, however, was notably cordial, complete with a carefully staged moment of him and Prime Minister Netanyahu walking together barefoot on a local beach. They had reason for the warm feelings”, the report said.
NYT reported, “Their countries had agreed on the sale of a package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly $2 billion – with Pegasus and a missile system as the centerpieces. Months later, Netanyahu made a rare state visit to India. And in June 2019, India voted in support of Israel at the UN’s Economic and Social Council to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organization, a first for the nation.”
A year-long New York Times investigation, including dozens of interviews with government officials, leaders of intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, cyberweapons experts, business executives and privacy activists in a dozen countries, shows how Israel’s ability to approve or deny access to NSO’s cyberweapons has become entangled with its diplomacy.
“The combination of Israel’s search for influence and NSO’s drive for profits has also led to the powerful spying tool’s ending up in the hands of a new generation of nationalist leaders worldwide. Though the Israeli government’s oversight was meant to prevent the powerful spyware from being used in repressive ways, Pegasus has been sold to Poland, Hungary and India, despite those countries’ questionable records on human rights”, NYT reported.
Issue to spook upcoming Budget session
The stage has been set for a stormy Budget Session with the opposition gearing up against the government on the Pegasus snooping issue. The Congress is reaching out to the opposition to devise a joint strategy to corner the government.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi set the ball rolling after he said, “Modi Govt bought Pegasus to spy on our primary democratic institutions, politicians and public. Govt functionaries, opposition leaders, armed forces, judiciary all were targeted by these phone tappings. This is treason. Modi Govt has committed treason.”
Not only the Congress but other political parties are planning to corner the government on the snooping row in the country.
Former Congress Chief Minister in Maharashtra Prithvi Raj Chavan said, “Government must answer which spy agency procured it and who authorised it.”
As per reports, the spyware Pegasus not only breaches the WhatsApp as also the phone but is able to turn over the cellphones camera and microphone to capture all activities in the vicinity of the phone, besides hacking all the security features of the phone, including listening to, and sending passwords, contact lists, calendar events, text messages, and live voice calls. It also can plant fake material into the cellphone to falsely incriminate people.
Leader of the opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said, “We will seek the view of other political parties and then the further strategy will be decided.”
The Congress has said that the Prime Minister is directly involved in it and alleged that the Modi government purchased Pegasus Spyware in 2017 and other military technology as the “centrepieces” of a package, including “weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly $2 billion” from Israel during PM Modi’s visit. It is not a coincidence that the Budget of National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) reporting to the NSA went up from Rs 33 crore to Rs 333 crore in 2017-18.
The Congress has alleged that the Modi government deployed Pegasus spyware for snooping and spying upon Rahul Gandhi, former PM Deve Gowda, former Chief Ministers — Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy and its own leaders former BJP Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia; BJP Cabinet Minister Prahlad Singh Patel, his wife and staff; Present IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw & his wife; OSD of Union Minister Smriti Irani; Abhishek Banerjee, MP & nephew of Ms Mamta Banerjee; Praveen Togadia, former head of VHP and others. It even said Supreme Court judges, Election Commission of India; former CBI Director Alok Verma and his wife and family; K.K. Sharma, head of BSF, BSF IG Jagdish Maithani, RAW officer Jitender Kumar Ojha and his wife; Indian Army Officers — Col. Mukul Dev and Col Amit Kumar were also targeted by Pegasus.
Buck stops at PM’s door, says Congress
After the new expose in an international publication on Pegasus, the Congress on Saturday alleged that the Modi government is involved in the whole incident and snooped rivals which is an act of treason.
Addressing a press conference, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala jointly said that the snooping is an “act of treason”.
“The Modi Government is the deployer and executor of the illegal and unconstitutional snooping and spying racket through Israeli surveillance spyware Pegasus & the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is himself involved!”
“This is a brazen ‘Hijack of Democracy’ & ‘An Act of Treason’,” they said.
Surjewala said, Modi Government purchased Pegasus Spyware in 2017 and other military technology as the “centrepieces” of a package including “weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly $2 billion” from Israel during PM Modi’s visit. It is not a coincidence that the Budget of National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) reporting to NSA went up from Rs 33 crore to Rs 333 crore in 2017-18.
He said, Modi Government deployed Pegasus spyware for snooping and spying upon Rahul Gandhi and his staff members; Former PM Deve Gowda, Former Chief Ministers – Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy; Former BJP Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia; BJP Cabinet Minister, Prahlad Singh Patel, his wife and staff; Present IT Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw & his wife; OSD of Union Minister, Smriti Irani; Abhishek Banerjee, MP & nephew of Ms Mamata Banerjee; Praveen Togadia, former head of VHP and others.
The Congress alleged that not only this, Pegasus spyware target list also included Supreme Court judges; Election Commission of India; CBI Director, advocates, activists and even journalists of prominent media organisations.
The party accused the Modi government of misleading the Supreme Court which directly questioned it on the purchase and use of the questionable software.
The party said even advocates, activists and journalists of prominent media organisations were included in the snooping list.
The government dismissed the reports when the snooping row first surfaced. IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw attacked the reports of India’s Pegasus use as “baseless” and “highly sensational”. Both the Home Ministry and Defence Ministry had denied reports of the purchase.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, had refused to divulge details whether Pegasus was used or not, stating the information may affect the national security concerns of the country…reports Asian Lite News.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it was compelled to take up the cause to determine the truth, as it appointed an independent expert technical committee supervised by a retired top court judge, Justice R.V. Raveendran, to probe the Pegasus snooping allegations.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana said the court’s effort is to uphold the rule of law, without entering the “political thicket”, and added the alleged use of Pegasus on the citizens of the country, was of “grave concern”.
The bench also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli said while technology is a useful tool for improving the lives of the people, at the same time, it can also be used to breach that sacred private space of an individual.
“Privacy is not the singular concern of journalists or social activists. Every citizen of India ought to be protected against violations of privacy”, emphasized the bench, adding this right is directly infringed when there is surveillance on an individual, either by state or any external agency.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, had refused to divulge details whether Pegasus was used or not, stating the information may affect the national security concerns of the country.
The bench said it is a settled position of law that in matters pertaining to national security, the scope of judicial review is limited. “However, this does not mean that the State gets a free pass every time the spectre of “national security” is raised.
National security cannot be the bugbear that the judiciary shies away from, by virtue of its mere mentioning”, said the bench.
The top court said invocation of national security by the state does not render it a mute spectator when foreign governments have seriously taken the purported spyware attack, and some governments have initiated proceedings internally to determine the truth.
“Certain grave allegations of infringement of the rights of the citizens of the country have been raised, assuming great significance. In this light, this court is compelled to take up the cause to determine the truth and get to the bottom of the allegations made herein”, said the bench.
Stating that snooping impacted the right to privacy and freedom of speech, the top court cited several compelling circumstances for it to constitute the committee.
The top court pointed out that documents filed by petitioners, which record certain material, cannot be brushed aside, such as the reports of reputed organisations like Citizen Lab and affidavits of experts. Mehta had suggested that many of these reports areAA motivated and self-serving. However, the top court said such an omnibus oral allegation is not sufficient to desist from interference.
In the absence of the government’s clear stand on snooping allegations, the bench said repeated suggestions made it to file a detailed affidavit in response to the allegations produced no effect on the government, which ended up filing a two-page affidavit.
“There has only been an omnibus and vague denial in the “limited affidavit” filed by the Respondent Union of India, which cannot be sufficient,” said the top court, dismissing Centre’s apprehension that any disclosure on the Pegasus issue would affect national security.
Voicing concern about the protection of journalistic freedom, the bench said the state should not create an atmosphere that has a “chilling effect” on the freedom of the press, which is an assault on the vital public-watchdog role of the press.
Justice Raveendran would oversee the functioning of the technical committee and he will be assisted by Alok Joshi, former IPS officer and Dr. Sundeep Oberoi, Chairman, Sub Committee in (International Organisation of Standardisation/International Electro-Technical Commission/Joint Technical Committee).
The three members of the technical committee are — Dr. Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Professor (Cyber Security and Digital Forensics) and Dean, National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat; Dr. Prabaharan P., Professor (School of Engineering), Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri, Kerala; and Dr. Ashwin Anil Gumaste, Institute Chair Associate Professor (Computer Science and Engineering), Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Maharashtra.
The bench directed the committee to submit its report expeditiously and scheduled the matter for further hearing after eight weeks.
The top court order came on petitions, including by veteran journalists N. Ram and Sashi Kumar, the Editors Guild and individuals, who claimed to be victims of the alleged snooping.
Traces of Pegasus were found on 37 of the 67 phones in the data that were analysed by Amnesty International’s security lab…reports Asian Lite News.
The phone numbers of a top ring of advisers around the Dalai Lama are believed to have been selected as those of ‘people of interest’ by the government clients of Israeli surveillance company NSO Group.
An analysis strongly indicates that the Indian government was selecting the potential targets, The Guardian said.
Other phone numbers apparently selected by Delhi were those of the former President of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Lobsang Sangay, the staff in the office of another Buddhist spiritual leader, the Gyalwang Karmapa, and several other activists and clerics who are part of the exiled community in India, the report said.
NSO’s Pegasus spyware allows clients to infiltrate phones and extract their calls, messages and locations. The selected Tibetans did not make their phones available to confirm whether any hacking was attempted or successful, but technical analysis of 10 other phones on the suspected Indian client list found traces of Pegasus or signs of targeting related to the spyware.
Traces of Pegasus were found on 37 of the 67 phones in the data that were analysed by Amnesty International’s security lab. Of the 48 iPhones examined that had not been reset or replaced since they appeared in the records, 33 carried traces of Pegasus or signs of attempted infection. iPhones log the information that can reveal infection by the spyware, the report said.
The data may provide a glimpse at the delicate relationship between Tibetan exiles and the Indian government, which has provided refuge for the movement since its leaders fled a Chinese crackdown in 1959, while also viewing it as leverage — and sometimes a liability — in its own relationship with Beijing, The Guardian said.
The possible scrutiny of Tibetan spiritual and government leaders points to a growing awareness in Delhi, as well as in the western capitals, of the strategic importance of Tibet as their relationships with China have grown more tense over the past five years, the report said.
It also highlights the growing urgency of the question of who will follow the current Dalai Lama, 86, a globally acclaimed figure whose death is likely to trigger a succession crisis that is already drawing in world powers. Last year the US made it a policy to impose sanctions against any government that interfered with the selection process, The Guardian said.
The report said the records suggest that Tibetan leaders were first selected in late 2017, in the period before and after former US President Barack Obama met the Dalai Lama privately on a foreign tour that also included earlier stops in China.
Senior advisers to the Dalai Lama, whose numbers appear in the data, include Tempa Tsering, the spiritual leader’s long-time envoy to Delhi, and the senior aides Tenzin Taklha and Chhimey Rigzen, as well as Samdhong Rinpoche, the head of the trust that has been tasked with overseeing the selection of the Buddhist leader’s successor, The Guardian said.
The Dalai Lama, who has spent the past 18 months isolating in his compound in Dharamsala, is not known to carry a personal phone, according to two sources.
Following the launch of the Pegasus project, India’s IT minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said the project’s claims about Indian surveillance were an “attempt to malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions”.
He told parliament: “The presence of a number on the list does not amount to snooping … there is no factual basis to suggest that use of the data somehow amounts to surveillance.”
The Guardian said India could have several motives for possible spying on Tibetan leaders but some in Dharamsala have concluded that the question of succession may be a driving force.
Naming successors to the Dalai Lama has sometimes taken years after the death of the title holder, and is usually led by the monk’s senior disciples, who interpret signs that lead them to the child next in line, the report said.
But China views the next Dalai Lama as a potential separatist leader who could weaken its authoritarian grip on Tibet. It has claimed the sole right to control the selection process, and analysts say it is already pressuring neighbours such as Nepal and Mongolia to rule out recognising any successor but its own, The Guardian said.
Beijing is also contacting influential Buddhist teachers and clerics around the world, including some based in India, inviting them to China to try to lay the groundwork for its choice and muddy support for any candidate chosen by the Dalai Lama’s followers.
The report said these entreaties to Buddhist leaders and other interference in the succession process have been viewed warily by India’s security agencies, who may have sought to closely monitor an issue with huge implications for Delhi’s own relationship with China — but where its direct influence and control is limited.
“India wants to make sure that Tibetans don’t strike a deal with the Chinese that involves the Dalai Lama going back to Tibet,” said a former staffer with the Tibetan administration, who asked not to be named, as per the report.
The report said India may also be seeking to monitor continuing informal contact between Chinese officials and Tibetan leaders. The Dalai Lama revealed two years ago that India had vetoed his plans to try to meet Xi Jinping when the Chinese president visited India in 2014.
“The Dalai Lama himself has said several times that he maintains connections to the Chinese leadership through ‘old friends’,” the former Tibetan government staffer said, adding: “India is very aware of this and they want to make sure that no deals are made without their knowing or involvement.”
The Guardian said Delhi officially backs the negotiations on the status of Tibet, but a recent Indian think-tank report suggested the country’s intelligence agencies had not always been supportive of the Dalai Lama’s “middle way”, a blueprint to resolve the dispute by recognising Chinese sovereignty over Tibet but granting the province meaningful autonomy.
Other motives for possible monitoring of Tibetan leaders may be more straightforward, including that the Dalai Lama and the community around him are a magnet for sensitive information about Tibet and regularly meet dignitaries from around the world, the report added.
“I would assume that India would pay close attention to, for example, western officials coming to Dharamsala – I think they’d want to monitor that in detail,” said Robert Barnett, former director of the Tibet studies programme at Columbia University.
“Perhaps, is the Dalai Lama asking them for asylum? I think that kind of concern would matter a lot to them.”
Dharamsala: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama message to members of the Tibetan community on the occasion of his 85th birthday from his residence in Dharamsala on July 6, 2020. (Photo: Facebook/@DalaiLama)
“This press story on Pegasus, done by a web portal on July 18, attempts to malign the Indian democracy and its well-established institutions,” Vaishaw added…reports Asian Lite News.
With the Pegasus snoopgate leading to ruckus in the Parliament, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday that the news story on snooping was an attempt to malign India’s democracy and its institutions.
Addressing the Rajya Sabha, the minister also indicated that the report was meant to disrupt the Monsoon Session of the Parliament.
“A sensational story around Pegasus being published just a day before the Monsoon Session of Parliament cannot be a coincidence,” he said.
“This press story on Pegasus, done by a web portal on July 18, attempts to malign the Indian democracy and its well-established institutions,” Vaishaw added.
He also said that similar claims were made in the past regarding the use of Pegasus on WhatsApp, adding that those reports had “no factual basis” and were categorically denied by all the parties, including in the Supreme Court.
While Vaishnaw was reading the statement on the Pegasus project amid an ongoing row over alleged large-scale snooping involving politicians, Trinamool Congress MPs snatched the report from the minister’s hand and tore it into pieces on the floor of the Rajya Sabha.
Journalist-turned-BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta said: “Some of the Trinamool MPs took the paper from the hands of the minister and tore it. This is unacceptable.”
Trinamool MP Shantanu Sen was seen on national television snatching the report right out of the minister’s hand, tearing it apart and then throwing the shredded pieces into the air.
Amid continued disruptions, the Upper House was adjourned for the day.
Earlier too, the minister had said that the report is an attempt to malign India.
The Pegasus Project reports published in The Wire, which showed that over 300 phone numbers – including those of two serving ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders, among others, – could have been targetted for hacking using the Pegasus spyware developed by Israeli surveillance company NSO Group.
Interestingly, Vaishnaw’s name also appeared in the list of people who were allegedly snooped upon.
