Centre gone rogue, brazenly subverting basic human rights: Mehbooba Mufti attacks Modi govt over Pegasus spyware

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New Delhi: Taking a dig at the Centre over Pegasus snooping allegations, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Friday (July 23) said that the Modi government has "gone rogue" and is "brazenly subverting basic human rights”. 

Mufti took to Twitter to slam BJP and alleged that the Centre has “weaponised” the spyware against opposition and dissenters. 

"A spyware used against terrorists has been weaponised to deal with political opponents & dissenters. BJP has taken a leaf out of how Britishers would suspect & treat Indians during the colonial era. GOI has gone rogue & is brazenly subverting basic human rights,” she tweeted. 

The opposition parties have increased their attacks on the Centre over snooping allegations with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday demanding the resignation of Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah over Pegasus snooping row. He also claimed that all his phones were tapped. Gandhi is one of the names in the potential snooping target list revealed in the recent media reports. 

An international consortium under "Pegasus project" has revealed that the numbers of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, other opposition politicians, poll strategist Prashant Kishor, two union ministers, Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee and some 40 journalists were selected as potential targets of snooping. However, it could not be established that all numbers found on the leaked database were hacked. 

The investigation centers on a leaked list of more than 50,000 phone numbers from across the world that are believed to have been the target of surveillance through the Pegasus software of Israeli surveillance company NSO Group. As per NSO Group, it only sells its spyware to "vetted governments" which has made opposition leaders target the Modi government and ask for answers. 

The Centre on Sunday (July 18) had rejected the media reports and termed the allegations "false and malicious". The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said that there has been "no unauthorised interception by government agencies."

(With agency inputs)