The standing committee on Information and Technology headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor will meet on Wednesday to discuss the recent breach in WhatsApp using Pegasus spyware. The committee has also received a representation from 17 persons who have come together on a common platform “Pegasus Targeted Persons.”
IT Ministry and Home Ministry officials have been summoned for the meeting. Kudankulam Nuclear Plant authorities too have been asked to depose. The nuclear plant had reported a Pegasus malware attack on its website. “We will summon the WhatsApp officials later once we have spoken to the government representatives,” a member of the committee told The Hindu .
The Congress had claimed that the personal mobile phone of its general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too reported a similar breach. Ms. Vadra, however, has not so far reached out to the committee.
In its representation, the “Pegasus Targeted Persons” group has asked the standing committee to probe the role of the Indian government. It has asked the Parliamentary panel to find out whether “public money has been expended for these illegal and unauthorised attacks? Who authorised this expenditure?”
The group also wants the panel to probe if the employees and operatives of the Israeli spyware manufacturer, the NSO Group, were present in India. It has also asked the panel to find out what are the steps the government is taking to identify and bring to book the entities involved in the Pegasus attacks.
This platform includes human rights activist Bela Bhatia, Marxist Dalit author Anand Teltumbde, Jagdalpur Legal Aid group member Shalini Gera, Chhattisgarh-based civil rights activist Alok Shukla, human rights activist Jagdish Meshram and Ph.D scholar Ajmal Khan among others.
In their representation the “Pegasus Targeted Persons” have expressed their willingness to depose before the committee.
“The Pegasus attack was highly sophisticated since it allows the spyware to invade every aspect of one’s life giving it unlimited access from your facebook account to your bank account,” Ms. Bhatia told The Hindu .
Calling attention to the statement of the Information Technology Minister, the letter from the group says: “A statement from Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Information Technology on 31 October 2019 adds to our concerns. It suggests that this targeting of human rights defenders and civil society activists has been carried out without the knowledge and permission of the Government of India. If this is true, the Pegasus attacks have serious implications for national security.”
