Pegasus snooping controversy rocks Indian parliament as opposition cries foul

Revelations about India’s alleged purchase of Israeli Pegasus spyware rocked parliament this week as main opposition parties cornered Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, accused it of misleading the house over its spyware use. 

Opposition lawmakers in India have filed privilege motions accusing the government of providing misleading information over its use of Israel's controversial Pegasus spyware.   JOEL SAGET AFP/File

Citing a recent report by The New York Times that New Delhi bought the Israeli spyware in 2017 as part of a 2 billion dollar package for weapons, lawmakers from several opposition parties filed privilege motions accusing the government of providing misleading information on the controversial spyware.  

“In light of the latest revelations by The New York Times, it appears that the Modi government has misled parliament and the Supreme Court and lied to the people of India,” leader of the Congress party Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to the Lower House speaker. 

“In view of the above, I demand that a privilege motion may be initiated against the Minister of Information Technology for deliberately misleading the house.”  

'Enemy of India'

Another Congress leader, Mallikarjun Kharge, said: “Why did the Modi government 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.” 

However, a parliament discussion was disavowed and the government sidestepped the opposition parties demand saying the matter was before the Supreme Court. 

Several media organisations across the world had reported on the use of Pegasus, which has been developed by Israeli cybersecurity firm the NSO Group.

July 2021: India's IT minister says govt didn't use Pegasus for snooping

Oct 2021: India's Supreme Court appoints panel to look into alleged Pegasus use

Jan 2022: NYT reports Pegasus part of $2 billion gear & weapons deal between Israel & Indiahttps://t.co/MPn57Ivgrs

— Devjyot Ghoshal (@DevjyotGhoshal) January 28, 2022

In India, it is alleged that more than 300 Indians were spied on through Pegasus and that its potential targets were politicians, journalists, government workers and a Supreme Court judge. 

The government has denied that it ordered any unauthorised surveillance ever since the controversy erupted. 

Last year, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had called the allegations a "sensational" attempt to malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions". He told parliament in September that the government "has not had any transaction with NSO Group Technologies". 

Following the furore, in October last year, the Supreme Court ordered the constitution of a technical committee headed by a retired judge of to probe into the alleged use of a spyware called Pegasus for surveillance of several citizens of India. 

Court-appointed committee  

According to media reports, at least two cybersecurity experts who have provided testimonies before the Supreme Court-appointed committee have reportedly stated there is a presence of “strong indicators” pointing to the involvement of “the state, its intelligence and law enforcement agencies” in using the Pegasus spyware for unauthorised surveillance against individuals. 

One expert pointed out that the infected phones show “ample deployment of malware” that is consistent with digital fingerprints of Pegasus available in the public domain. 

The company, NSO, was engulfed in controversy over reports that tens of thousands of human rights activists, journalists, politicians and business executives worldwide were listed as potential targets of its Pegasus software.  

• India probes use of Israeli spyware Pegasus on its citizens
• Pegasus spyware scandal raises questions about independence of Indian press

Last year, France’s national agency for information systems security, Anssi, identified digital traces of the Pegasus spyware on the phones of a France 24 journalist, an investigative journalist at the French investigative website Mediapart and the site’s director.  

The NSO Group and its controversial Pegasus technology, which grabbed attention of governments and citizens worldwide with allegations of misuse was blacklisted by the US Department of Commerce for acting “contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the US” last year in November. 

Israel distanced itself from the controversy triggered by the blacklisting of the NSO Group after allegations of illegal use of its Pegasus spyware to target government officials, activists and journalists globally, saying it is a private company and it has nothing to do with the policies of the Israeli government.