Turkey has secretly helped Pakistan set up a “cyber army” to public opinion against India and the United States (US), Nordic Monitor reported Sunday.
The Monitor said that the “cyber army” aims to influence the views of Muslims in South Asia against New Delhi and Washington and “undermine criticism levelled against the Pakistani rulers.” It noted that the plan was first proposed in December 2018 in Islamabad during a meeting between then-Pakistani Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi and Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu.
According to the Monitor, the matter was discussed at the “senior level and kept confidential from most of the staff at Islamabad’s interior ministry.” It also revealed that then-Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan gave the green light for the plan during a meeting with Soylu.
Earlier this month, Soylu admitted during an interview that Turkey helped Pakistan develop the cyber system, without naming the target countries. Soylu said a Pakistani minister had urged Turkey to help Pakistan develop a “cyber army.” Soylu noted that Ankara agreed to Islamabad’s requests and sent a security team to Pakistan. He said the project was successfully completed.
Nordic Monitor stated that Pakistan also created a “cyber army” to help prevent the United States (US) from trying to create a “negative perception of Pakistan using social media.” Additionally, Pakistan formed an online army to counter India on social media.
“The cooperation has since continued under successive governments, with some 6,000 Pakistani police officers trained by Turkey for this and other projects,” it stated. Per the Monitor, Pakistan’s “cyber army” is in line with a similar project run by Turkey to quash domestic opposition.
It noted that Soylu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan worked for many years to set up a social media presence, particularly on Twitter, to harass and intimidate opposition politicians.
Did Erdogan’s secret service help create @ImranKhanPTI ‘s troll army? 🤔https://t.co/IeVvZA2VgH
— Husain Haqqani (@husainhaqqani) October 27, 2022
The Turkish unit “was turned into machinery to undermine in public view the opposition and smear critics and dissenters within the ruling party,” the report claimed, adding, “The unit was blatantly abused by Soylu to launch frivolous criminal cases against social media users who express legitimate criticism of the government or journalists who publish and distribute their content on social media platforms.”
India and the US have not responded to the report.
India and Turkey have had historically tense relations. For instance, Turkey has historically sided with Pakistan on the J&K dispute and has on numerous occasions criticised India’s position on Kashmir. In 2019, Erdoğan criticised India for revoking the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir and its subsequent clampdown on the region. Earlier this year, he once again raised the issue of Kashmir at the United Nations General Assembly in New York and called on India to adhere to UN resolutions on the issue.
New Delhi has time and again reacted sharply to Erdoğan’s statement on Kashmir by urging Ankara to not interfere in its internal affairs. In fact, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi cancelled a visit to Ankara in 2019 over the Turkish President’s comments. New Delhi has sided with Cyprus in its dispute with Turkey. In addition, India has sought to deepen ties with Greece by supporting Athens’ position on the Mediterranean dispute with Ankara and enhancing military ties.
In contrast, Turkey and Pakistan have recently agreed to expand bilateral ties. In this respect, Pakistani PM Shebaz Sharif visited Ankara in June and met with Erdoğan. They agreed to work together on the issue of Kashmir and the plight of the Kashmiris and “Indian atrocities” to international attention. They also agreed to strengthen economic ties by increasing bilateral trade from $1.1 billion to $5 billion in the next five years.
The two countries also agreed to bolster strategic ties by setting up a High-Level Strategic Cooperation Committee (HLSCC). Ankara and Islamabad are also partnering on defence manufacturing projects, including the joint development of the Bayraktar drones.