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New Delhi Jan 30 PTI The Editors Guild of India urged the Justice R V Raveendran committee on Sunday to take cognisance of the startling claims made in a New York Times NYT report about the purchase of the Pegasus spyware by India and seek responses from the government and the ministries that may have been involved in the alleged deal in 2017In its letter to Justice Raveendran the guild also urged that the proceedings of the committee set up by the Supreme Court last year to probe the alleged use of the spyware for targeted surveillance in the country be kept open to the public at large so that there is complete transparency with respect to the witnesses being called as well as their responsesIn a statement the guild said the claims made in the investigative report of NYT are in stark contrast to the stand of the government which continues to be vague and non-committal in its response to the allegations that it purchased the Israeli spyware and used it against Indian citizens including journalists and civil society membersWe on behalf of the Editors Guild of India wish to address you on certain startling revelations that have been published by the New York Times on January 28 2022 regarding the spyware Pegasus sold and licensed by Israeli company NSO Group the editors body wrote in its letter to Justice RaveendranIt noted that the Supreme Court while constituting the committee had specifically required it to enquire investigate and determine whether any Pegasus suite of spyware was acquired by the Union of India or any state government or any central or state agency for use against the citizens of the countryWe urge the committee to take cognisance of the startling claims by one of the most respected news organisations in the world and to call upon the Government of India the Comptroller and Auditor General of India as well as the secretaries of ministries that may have been involved with the claimed purchase of the spyware -- Ministry of Finance Ministry of Defence Ministry of Home Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as well as any other ministry that your Lordship or the committee deems fit as witnesses to the inquiry and seek their responses on affidavit on the aforementioned New York Times report the guild saidThe NYT report claimed that India bought the spyware as part of a USD 2-billion defence deal with Israel in 2017The report titled The Battle for the Worlds Most Powerful Cyberweapon triggered a major controversy on Saturday with the Opposition alleging that the government indulged in illegal snooping that amounted to treasonThe report said the NSO Group had for nearly a decade been selling its surveillance software on a subscription basis to law-enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world promising that it could do what no one else -- not a private company not even a state intelligence service -- could do consistently and reliably crack the encrypted communications of any iPhone or Android smartphoneThe report also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Israel in July 2017 -- the first by an Indian prime ministerFor 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 then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walking together barefoot on a local beach it saidThey had reason for the warm feelings Their countries had agreed on the sale of a package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly USD 2 billion -- with Pegasus and a missile system as the centrepiecesMonths later Netanyahu made a rare state visit to India And in June 2019 India voted in support of Israel at the UNs Economic and Social Council to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organisation a first for the nation the report saidThe guild noted with deep concern the claims made in the reportThe claims in the NYT report are in stark contrast to the stance of the Government of India which has been and continues to be vague and non-committal in its response to these extremely serious allegations that whether it purchased the spyware and more disturbingly if it was used against Indian citizens including journalists and civil society members it saidA massive row erupted last year over the alleged use of the Pegasus spyware for targeted surveillance in the countryHowever the government had dismissed the allegations of any kind of surveillance on its part on specific peopleThe apex court set up the independent expert committee under Justice R V Raveendran in October to probe the alleged use of Pegasus for targeted surveillance observing that the State cannot get a free pass every time the spectre of national security is raised and that its mere invocation cannot render the judiciary a mute spectator and be the bugbear it shies away from PTI PK RC

New Delhi Jan 29 PTI A New York Times report claiming India bought Pegasus spyware as part of a USD 2 billion defence deal with Israel in 2017 triggered a major controversy on Saturday with the Opposition alleging that the government indulged in illegal snooping that amounted to treasonThe Opposition parties indicated that they would raise the issue strongly in the Budget Session of Parliament starting Monday even as Union minister Gen retd V K Singh called The New York Times Supari MediaA government source said the matter related to the Pegasus software was being monitored by a committee under the Supreme Court -- headed by retired Supreme Court judge R V Raveendran -- and its report was awaitedReacting to NYTs report Singh Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways and Civil Aviation said on Twitter Can you trust NYT They are known Supari Media The Congress launched an all-out attack on the government over the report accusing it of deceiving Parliament duping the Supreme Court hijacking democracy and indulging in treasonFormer Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Twitter The Modi Government bought Pegasus to spy on our primary democratic institutions politicians and public Government functionaries opposition leaders armed forces judiciary all were targeted by these phone tappings This is treason The Modi Government has committed treason he allegedThe Congress said it intends to raise the issue in the budget session and demand accountability from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government on the floor of ParliamentThe principal opposition party also urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the matter and initiate appropriate penal proceedings against the government for attempting to deliberately and knowingly deceive itAsked about the issue Shashi Tharoor senior Congress leader and chairman of the parliamentary panel on communications and information technology told PTI The government has chosen not to be responsive to the IT Committee about Pegasus and the stand taken by a number of BJP members - not to permit a quorum when the issue was to be discussed - has also meant that the Committee has made no headway in establishing the facts The Supreme Court is pursuing the matter and I wish it well If our government has used Pegasus in the manner alleged it would be a very grave threat to our democracy he saidIn a tweet CPIM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said The Narendra Modi government must explain on affidavit why it bought this cyber weapon who gave the permission for its usage how were the targets selected and who got these reports Silence on such a critical issue only means an acceptance of its criminal activity he saidCPI general secretary D Raja alleged that the government hid the truth on the issue from Parliament and they were now answerableIn a tweet Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi alleged the spyware was used not for defence purposes but to snoop on opposition and journalists If there is BJP it is possible They have made the country into a Bigg Boss show she said in a tweet in HindiBJP MP Subramanian Swamy suggested that Modi government must rebut New York Times revelations today that It did indeed subscribe by payment from tax payers money of 300 crores to spyware Pegasus sold by Israeli NSO company This implies prima facie our Govt misled Supreme Court and Parliament Watergate he askedMeanwhile Indias former permanent representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin dismissed as utter rubbish the insinuation in the NYT report which cited Indias 2019 vote in support of Israel at the UNs Economic and Social Council to highlight deepening of ties after a deal that included sale of PegasusTagging a tweet on the NYT report Akbaruddin who held the post at the UN from 2016-2020 said The insinuation about Indias UN vote is utter rubbishIncidentally India and Israel marked 30 years of diplomatic relations on SaturdayThe media report said Pegasus and a missile system were the centerpieces of a roughly USD 2 billion deal of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear between India and Israel in 2017The NYT in its report titled The Battle for the Worlds Most Powerful Cyberweapon said that the Israeli firm NSO Group had for nearly a decade been selling its surveillance software on a subscription basis to law-enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world promising that it could do what no one else -- not a private company not even a state intelligence service -- could do consistently and reliably crack the encrypted communications of any iPhone or Android smartphoneThe report also referred to Modis visit to Israel in July 2017 - the first Indian prime minister to do soFor 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 then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walking together barefoot on a local beach it saidThey had reason for the warm feelings Their countries had agreed on the sale of a package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly USD 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 UNs Economic and Social Council to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organisation a first for the nation the report saidLast year a row had erupted over Pegasus allegedly being used for targeted surveillance in IndiaThe government however had dismissed allegations of any kind of surveillance on its part on specific people Last October the Supreme Court set up a three-member independent expert panel to probe the alleged use of Pegasus for targeted surveillance in India observing the state cannot get a free pass every time the spectre of national security is raised and that its mere invocation cannot render the judiciary a mute spectator and be the bugbear it shies away from The NYT report said the FBI too had bought a version of PegasusIt was around last summer that the FBI decided not to deploy the NSO weapons It was around this time that a consortium of news organisations called Forbidden Stories brought forward new revelations about NSO cyberweapons and their use against journalists and political dissidents The Pegasus system currently lies dormant at the facility in New JerseyAn international investigative consortium had claimed that many Indian ministers politicians activists businessmen and journalists were potentially targeted by the softwareThe report said that since 2011 when NSO introduced Pegasus to the global market it had helped Mexican authorities capture Joaquin Guzman Loera the drug lord known as El ChapoEuropean investigators have quietly used Pegasus to thwart terrorist plots fight organised crime and in one case take down a global child-abuse ring identifying dozens of suspects in more than 40 countries it said PTI ASK YAS SKC PRS DSP ASG BJ ZMN

New Delhi Jan 29 PTI Indias former permanent representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin on Saturday dismissed as utter rubbish the insinuation in a New York Times report which cited Indias 2019 vote in support of Israel at the UNs Economic and Social Council to highlight deepening of ties after a deal that included sale of the Israeli spyware PegasusTagging a tweet on the NYT report Akbaruddin who was Indias Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations from 2016-2020 said The insinuation about Indias UN vote is utter rubbish The media report said the Israeli spyware Pegasus and a missile system were the centerpieces of a roughly USD 2 billion deal of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear between India and Israel in 2017It also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Israel in July 2017 - to become the first Indian prime minister to visit the countryFor 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 then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walking together barefoot on a local beach it saidThey had reason for the warm feelings Their countries had agreed on the sale of a package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly USD 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 UNs Economic and Social Council to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organisation a first for the nation the report said PTI ASK ANB ANB

New Delhi Jan 29 PTI The Congress on Saturday attacked the Centre over a New York Times report which claimed that the Indian government bought the Pegasus spy tool in 2017 as part of a deal with Israel alleging that the government indulged in illegal snooping using the spyware which amounts to treasonAccording to the report in The New York Times the Israeli spyware Pegasus and a missile system were the centerpieces of a roughly USD 2-billion deal of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear between India and Israel in 2017Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged the Modi government bought Pegasus to spy on our primary democratic institutions politicians and publicGovt functionaries opposition leaders armed forces judiciary all were targeted by these phone tappings This is treason he tweeted Modi Govt has committed treason Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said on Twitter Why did Modi Govt act like the enemies of India and use a warfare weapon against Indian citizens Illegal snooping using Pegasus amounts to treason No one is above the law and we will ensure that justice is served he said PTI has reached out to the government for a reaction to the NYT report but there was no immediate responseCiting the media report Congress spokesperson Shama Mohammed said this is irrefutable proof that the BJP government used military grade spyware to snoop on the citizens of India including former Congress president Rahul Gandhi There must be accountability she demandedRajya Sabha MP and senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil alleged that the revelations in the report imply that the government misled the Supreme Court and Parliament on the issueWhy narendramodi is silent It is PMOIndias duty to clarify New York Times revelations today that It did indeed subscribe by payment from tax payers money of 300 crores to spyware Pegasus sold by Israeli NSO company he tweetedThis implies our Govt misled Supreme Court Parliament Gohil saidYouth Congress chief Srinivas B V also cited the media report and tweeted Hence Proved Chowkidar Hi Jasoos Hai Reacting to the report Congress deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi alleged in a tweet PM Modi went to Israel to purchase weapons to counter terrorism and instead used it on his own civilians including journalists judges bureaucrats and opposition politicians In a tweet Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi alleged the spyware was used not for defence purposes but to snoop on opposition and journalists If there is BJP it is possible They have made the country into a Bigg Boss show she said in a tweet in HindiBJP MP Subramanian Swamy said Modi government must rebut New York Times revelations today that It did indeed subscribe by payment from tax payers money of 300 crores to spyware Pegasus sold by Israeli NSO companyThis implies prima facie our Govt misled Supreme Court and Parliament Watergate he tweeted An international investigative consortium had claimed last year that many people including Indian ministers politicians activists businessmen and journalists were potentially targeted by the NSO Groups phone hacking softwareThe Supreme Court had set up a three-member independent expert panel to probe the alleged use of Pegasus for targeted surveillance in India The government had denied all allegations made against it in the matter PTI ASK TIR TIR