The New Indian Express report captioned “Saudi Arabia bars men from marrying women from Pakistan, Bangladesh and two other nations” published on Saturday (March 20, 2021) is actually a ANI news agency write-up based on a story that dated back several years ago –to August 3, 2014.
A lookup of the new report opened a 404 error page instead and says, “The request could not be satisfied”.
Indian news portal NDTV which carried the ANI report returned the message: “The story has been withdrawn by ANI.”
Was the ANI report a distortion, a gaffe, a wardrobe malfunction, and ultimately a disinfo by a neighbor against another neighbor?
The premier Indian news agency has a huge TV reach local and overseas, and been part of EU DisInfo Lab’s “Deep Dive” investigation into the 15-year operation targeting the EU and the UN to serve Indian interests. The report published earlier this year says the news agency (ANI) has been part of the “disinfo campaign” launched against Pakistan and China in 2005.
A Summary of the 15-year influence operation –revealed by EU DisInfo Lab states that:
The operation’s mission is to discredit nations in conflict with India in Asia, in particular Pakistan but also China to a lesser extent. Its long-term objective is:
In India, to reinforce pro-Indian and anti-Pakistan (and anti-Chinese) feelings.
Internationally, to consolidate the power and improve the perception of India, to damage the reputation of other countries and ultimately benefit from more support from international institutions such as the EU and the UN.
