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Pakistan urges UN to probe India’s use of Israel’s Pegasus to spy on Imran Khan

Friday, 23 July 2021 5:46 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 23 July 2021 6:01 PM ]

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan talks on the phone prior to a news conference, in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 11, 2016. (Via AP)

Pakistan has urged the United Nations (UN) to investigate whether India has spied on Prime Minister Imran Khan using the Israeli Pegasus spyware.

A phone number belonging to Khan was included on a leaked list of over 50,000 mobile phone numbers selected for possible surveillance by customers of Israeli firm NSO group, which built Pegasus, since 2016.

The extent of the use of Pegasus was reported on Sunday by 17 international media outlets who collaborated on an investigation into the leaked data.

In a statement issued on Friday, Pakistan’s Foreign Office accused India of “state-sponsored, continuing and widespread surveillance and spying operations in clear breach of global norms of responsible state behavior.”

“In view of the gravity of these reports, we call on the relevant UN bodies to thoroughly investigate the matter, bring the facts to light, and hold the Indian perpetrators to account,” it said.

Pakistan and India have fought three wars since their partition in 1947, two of them over Kashmir, the Himalayan region that both claim in full.

The Foreign Office said Delhi had long been using such tactics in the Indian-administered Kashmir.

“We are closely following these revelations and will bring the Indian abuses to the attention of appropriate global platforms,” it added.

Indian MPs disrupt parliament over Israeli Pegasus spyware scandal

Indian opposition parties disrupt parliament and call for a probe into reports that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has used Israeli-made spyware to snoop on dozens of journalists, activists, and politicians.

The Indian government has already come under fire domestically after revelations that it selected dozens of Indians, including the main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, as potential hacking targets by Pegasus. The reports sparked calls by Indian political groups for an investigation.

The Pegasus spyware reportedly allows almost unlimited surveillance of mobile phones.

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