BEYOND THE LIES: STRATEGIES FOR COMBATING DISINFORMATION
Publishing date: 03 May 2024
Disinformation is referred to as sharing of false information intentionally in order to achieve a moral or political cause by altering public’s opinion. Disinformation often leads to extremism, hate speech and produces distrust among people in the democratic process at state-level. In the past, disinformation in context of Pakistan has affected public health, media, human rights and political stability which in broader context had an impact upon state’s normal functioning resulting into a chaos such as political instability.
Disinformation is often used by countries in the domain of military strategy and a new form of warfare known as “Hybrid Warfare” is generated. Military forces are no longer restricted to use of physical force rather tactics such as psychological operations, information age and digitization of battlefield are used. Pakistan’s opponent mainly India has been seen using Disinformation as a tool to disrupt, dominate and disintegrate Pakistan as a state and despite many efforts it has failed to do so.
In this era of disinformation, countering propaganda has become a challenge for nations across globe. Pakistan like many other countries faces a daunting task of safeguarding population against harmful effects of deceptive narratives.
In order to counter Disinformation we must delve into detail the root cause of where this propaganda takes place. India has been seen building fake narrative on Kashmir calling it its integral part with help of abrogation of article 370 in December 2023 which previously gave special status to Kashmir. India has clearly been seen creating propaganda across this region and has started migration of Hindus in this region to make it a Hindu-majority region. This propaganda campaign is far away from reality as Jammu & Kashmir possesses special autonomy according to United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 47 according to which the conflict must be resolved through a “democratic method of free and fair plebiscite”. This projection by India makes Pakistan’s point of view on Kashmir weaker. Prospects for Pakistan is this case lie within the United Nation’s resolutions and historical legacy of Kashmir.
Another Disinformation campaign been carried out in Pakistan is in terms of militant organization such as Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Jaish–e–Muhammad and TTP (who carry out across border activities and don’t accept Durand Line).
BLA on the other hand has been seen running anti-state campaigns by use of force carrying out various attacks within the state. Intelligence forces have often highlighted the presence of foreign forces such as R&AW behind this militia. We have seen a surge in the capacity of BLA as they are getting enormous local support. Another prominent Disinformation factor can be enlisted in terms of political scenario that currently emerged in the state. We have seen how a certain entities use social media for their anti-state campaigns and it has been seen how fake narratives were built against institutions of the state.
Furthermore, following steps can also be taken place to eradicate Disinformation such as Investing in Media Literacy. If we take example of Balochistan, literacy rate was noted at 54.5%. Media Literacy Programs can enable people to identify reliable sources and equip them with fact checking mechanism. Education is also a keen factor to fight propaganda. If people are well literate they will know the difference of constructed narrative and truth.
One of the notable platform of causing Disinformation is Social Media which should be regulated. Fake accounts should be deleted and content needs to be filtered. Organizations like Cyber Crime wing can work in order to tackle the areas that are causing propaganda. Like, we have recently seen some cases who were working in order to generate anti state content and thus he was countered by Intelligence Agencies.
Legal Framework can also be adopted where legislations can be done to penalize those who spread disinformation and this can be done under PECA Ordinance.
Also, Critical Evaluating Skills should be developed amongst the students and added to the curriculum so that this generation in future doesn’t fall a prey to deception.
In order to counter Propaganda and Disinformation, abovementioned remedies can be adopted ranging from countering India at global platforms, adopting state level measures against militant organizations and countering social media deceptive narratives as well as adopting factors such as Media Literacy, Regulation of Social Media, Legal Framework and Critical Thinking.