Congress leaders demand judicial probe into Pegasus row

In the backdrop of the controversy surrounding the government over the alleged surveillance on some of the top opposition leaders, journalists and businessmen in the country by an unidentified agency using Pegasus spyware, the opposition Congress in various states has called for a probe into the matter and asked the government and the Prime Minister to come clear on it.

Thiruvananthapuram: As the 'Pegasus Project' has caught the government off guard, several state units of the Congress have called for a probe into the matter and asked the government and the Prime Minister to come clean on the matter.

In Kerala, former Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Ramesh Chennithala called for a comprehensive probe into the alleged phone tapping and said the matter was extremely serious. He demanded that the Prime Minister responds to the allegations while also demanding a high-level probe into the matter. Muslim League leader and MP ET Mohammed Bashir said the Pegasus spyware issue was "very serious" and the central government's stance on the matter is "mysterious".

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president KS Alagiri questioned the role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the case as the Pegasus software, developed by Israel based NSO, is authorised for use only by government agencies. "A government elected by the people with a brutal majority has turned into an authoritarian regime and has invented various measures to intimidate journalists, judges and the Opposition by spying on their mobile phones and snooping on their personal details. This has brought shame to India. It's shocking that such a thing happens in a democratic country. This issue is a challenge to India's national security. When there are intelligence agencies established by the Indian government and regulated by the Constitution, why should the government use a software to spy on individuals? It cannot happen without the knowledge of the government," he said. "A judicial inquiry headed by a former judge is necessary. The judge should be given authority not just to question evidence and witnesses but also to inspect the reliability and trustworthiness of the evidence and to find out the person behind this," Alagiri said.

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Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram pointed out that the NSO Group, the owner of Pegasus, has said that 'NSO sells its technologies solely to law enforcement and intelligence agencies of vetted governments'. In a series of tweets, he slammed the IT Minister and the Modi government. "It is unfortunate that Minister Vaishnaw has started his innings on the wrong foot. In his statement, the minister has omitted to quote the crucial part of Pegasus’ statement. The services that are "openly available to anyone, anywhere, and anytime" refer to HLR Lookup services, not to Pegasus. The minister should answer a simple question: Did the government acquire the Pegasus software/spyware?".

Karnataka Congress spokesman Brijesh Kalappa told ETV Bharat that his party demands judicial investigation on the Pegasus controversy and this is the most diabolic attack on Indian democracy so far. These attacks must be investigated not by any government agency but only by the judiciary. "All the pillars of the state judiciary, legislature and the press have been compromised. Forty journalists and sitting judge of the Supreme Court were not spared," Kalappa said.

It is pertinent to mention that at least 40 Indian journalists appeared on the leaked list of potential targets for surveillance by an unidentified agency using Pegasus spyware, according to a report published by The Wireon Sunday. According to the report, the journalists who were targeted work for some leading news organisations in the country covering matters related to Defence, Home Ministry, Election Commission and Kashmir among others.

The matter

At least 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including two Union ministers, three opposition leaders, a sitting judge, 40 journalists, besides scores of business persons and activists in the country could are being allegedly targeted for hacking through the Israeli spyware sold only to government agencies, the media consortium had reported. The Union government has, however, categorically rejected allegations of snooping using Pegasus, asserting that illegal surveillance was not possible given the checks and balances in the country's laws. It also said vested interests were making attempts made to malign Indian democracy and to disrupt the Monsoon Session of Parliament which is underway since July 19.

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