New Delhi, June 2 (IANS) The decision by the ISI to pick up Shahzad Bhatti, once a social media influencer, was a strategic move. Bhatti runs a massive network online through which he recruits people mainly from India to be part of terror networks. Picking Bhatti was a well thought out move by the ISI.

Bhatti does not just handle operations for the ISI when it comes to carrying out terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and other parts of North India. He also oversees recruitments for the Khalistan movement in Punjab.

The Pakistani spy agency capitalised on his huge fan following on social media. Moreover, he is a master at his game and he knows how to manage propaganda and messaging online, owing to years of experience, an official said.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that Bhatti was a test case and it worked wonders for the ISI. Now the ISI is looking for such influencers from various parts of the world with the intention of targeting potential Indian recruits.

The experiment which the ISI tried in India to hire influencers worked briefly, but the operation failed. India undertook a massive drive to identify such ISI-funded influencers post ‘Operation Sindoor’.

The likes of Jyoti Malhotra were among other influencers who were arrested during the drive carried out by the Indian agencies. Another official said that with the help of these social media stars, the ISI is not only looking to recruit people. The messaging is what the Pakistan spy agency is interested in.

This drive comes at a time when the Indian Intelligence agencies have warned about a big propaganda drive that is anti-India in nature, that Pakistan wants to undertake. The official added that the ISI has a special cell that handles such networks.

These centres operate from three locations in Pakistan. The ISI has set up a call centre in Jhelum which is not just used to honey trap Indians, but also to set up social media influencers by offering them huge sums of money.

The other centres are in Islamabad and Lahore. The main centre however is located in Karachi, where the ISI runs its Unit 412.

An official said that post ‘Operation Sindoor’, the Pakistanis are unwilling to take big risks. It has understood the importance of fake narratives and propaganda against the Indian state.

The aim is to spread false messages against India. The primary target, however, is the Union government and its policies. The other main target is the Indian armed forces, which executed ‘Operation Sindoor’ that resulted in not just a loss of face for Pakistan, but also the destruction of major terror infrastructure in the country.

The social media influencers are being targeted in many parts of the world. The modus operandi is to keep scanning for profiles that are pro-Pakistan and anti-India.

These persons tend to bite the bait sooner and with the lure of money and more followers, they are more than willing to undertake the task for the ISI, an official said.

The script that each of them is being provided is the one that Bhatti followed, post his recruitment by the ISI. He hails from Pakistan’s Punjab province and tells people he is a businessman, commentator on the social media and social worker.

In reality, Bhatti has been involved in cases of theft and rape. In 2015 he fled to Dubai and ventured into the dairy business. He was, however, picked by the ISI through one Farooq Khokar.

The ISI identified his social media skills and hence decided to rope him in. He began a channel online called ‘333.’ On this channel, he created videos on relations between India and Pakistan. He also would discuss religious issues on his channels.

He gained in popularity and to the outside world, he appeared to be just another influencer online. In reality, these channels were being used to spread anti-India propaganda and carry out large scale recruitments for terror groups.

Officials say that the idea is to identify vulnerable Indian youth through the social media. Conversations are initiated with these individuals through private chats, following which the recruitment takes place, the official said.

This is the same script that the ISI has been giving to potential influencer recruits. Officials warn that this network can get very big in the months to come as the ISI is using all its resources to setting up this module.

Influencers from across the world would be part of this network and the intention is to have a very large reach in India, the official also added.

–IANS

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