Srinagar, July 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, several political activists, Hurriyat leaders and journalists may have been targeted for telephone snooping between 2017 and 2019. The Wire, citing leaked records, reported that more than 25 people from the Kashmir Valley were selected as potential targets of intrusive surveillance by Pegasus spyware between 2017 and mid-2019 by an as yet unidentified government agency that is also believed to be a client of the Israeli company NSO Group.

These people include Kashmiri journalists, politicians from pro-India and pro-freedom leaders, human rights activists as well as businessmen. Those who figure in the snoop dragnet include veteran Hurriyat leader, Syed Ali Gilani and at least his 4 family members including his son Syed Naseem Gilani, and journalist son-in-law, Iftikhar Gilani, Hurriyat forum Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and his driver, pro-freedom leader Bilal Lone, two members of Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti’s family, Tariq Bukhari, the brother of Apni Party head Altaf Bukhari, and Waqar Bhatti, a human rights activist.

At least 5 Kashmiri journalists, including Muzammil Jaleel, Aurangzeb Naqshbandi, Iftikhar Gilani and Sumir Kaul, were also targeted in the cyber surveillance programme. As per The Wire report, the name of the 5th journalist is being withheld at their request. Shabbir Hussain, a Delhi-based political commentator from Kashmir, is also in the list. The Wire added that among others selected for potential surveillance include an influential Shiite cleric associated with Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat forum and Hurriyat leader, Zafar Akbar Butt.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
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