APCC takes out protest march against Pegasus snooping in Guwahati

The party has demanded a Supreme Court-monitored judicial inquiry and resignation of the Union Home Minister

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The APCC (Assam Pradesh Congress Committee) organized a protest march to Raj Bhawan, Guwahati against the allegations that spyware 'Pegasus' was being used to hack cell phones in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha Election.

Following the protest, a delegation led by APCC president Ripun Bora and CLP leader Debabrata Saikia submitted a memorandum to the President of India through Governor Jagdish Mukhi.

In the memorandum, Congress demanded the President to constitute a Supreme Court-monitored judicial inquiry to find out the role of government officials involved in the illegal surveillance by Pegasus spyware and initiate actions against all such persons found involved. The party also demanded the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the 'breach' of National Security and his Constitutional Oath.

"A series of news reports in publications around the world revealed that over 300 Indian numbers were targeted for surveillance using the Israeli Pegasus spyware. These numbers belong to Opposition leaders, Constitutional authorities, journalists, Union Ministers, Foreign Ambassadors and High Commissioners and current and former officials of security services. Most of these numbers were targeted between 2018 and 2019 in the run-up to the Lok Sabha Elections," the APCC underlined in the memorandum.

Further, the APCC pointed out that according to Israeli company NSO Group, it sells the Pegasus spyware only to 'Vetted Governments', and not to private entities.

"As such, it is very clear that the Pegasus spyware was used by only BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) government against the Opposition for their political gain. It is to be mentioned that evidence of hacking was confirmed by Amnesty International's Lab which conducted forensic analysis on a sample of targeted phones. This finding was independently verified by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Out of 67 phones examined, 23 had been successfully hacked and 14 showed attempted hacking. Amnesty International has also fully published its forensic methodology," the memorandum read.

Lastly, the APCC added that the alleged illegal surveillance by the BJP government on opposition leaders, constitutional authorities, journalists, etc. is an attack on Indian democracy and a violation of the right to privacy.

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