Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Sunday said that investigators had uncovered an India-linked digital propaganda network aimed at spreading misinformation and anti-state content in Pakistan, a social media campaign related to the Joint Action Committee (JAC) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) was funded from across the border. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Tarar said security agencies had recently arrested a person providing digital marketing services whose activities had links to India. He revealed investigators found that payments for promoting and amplifying social media content in Pakistan were made through payment gateways originating from India.
"During the investigation, it emerged that an entire misinformation network was operating through bot farms," Tarar said, adding that the network was used to spread "anti-state content" targeting Pakistan, its institutions, the government, the armed forces and the army chief. According to the minister, investigators traced much of the promoted content to campaigns surrounding the JAC in AJK. "We had been saying from day one that this JAC wanted to weaken the relationship between Kashmir and Pakistan," Tarar said the movement was part of a broader conspiracy rather than a campaign for the rights of Kashmiris.
Read: AJK suspends 20 education employees over JAAC protest He also questioned why the group had not participated in the democratic process if it genuinely represented public interests. Referring to previous protests in Azad Kashmir, Tarar accused the committee of encouraging violence, creating law and order problems and taking the law into its own hands by blocking roads and organising armed demonstrations. The minister stated authorities now possessed "irrefutable evidence" linking the campaign to India.
"There should no longer be any doubt that its links lead to India, and we now have undeniable evidence," he said. Tarar said that social media campaigns supporting the JAC were financed from India, revealing technical investigations had traced the payments. "All the payments for the Joint Action Committee's social media content were coming from India, and this has been established through technical data," he said.
He further stated that investigators had recovered WhatsApp conversations between the arrested suspect and an Indian operator discussing payments, targeted viewership …
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