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Shinde: India to confront Pak on hate pages
Vishwa Mohan | TNN | Aug 30, 2012, 02.46AM IST 
"We will definitely share evidence with Pakistan," Indian home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said on Wednesday.
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may have decided not to raise with Pakistani President Asif Zardari the contentious issue of morphed images and inflammatory videos, which were purportedly uploaded in Pakistan and were among the triggers for the exodus of northeasterners, but his government is sticking to its plan to confront Islamabad with the evidence of uploading of hate web pages in that country.
"We will definitely share evidence with Pakistan," Indian home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said on Wednesday even as Union home secretary R K Singh asserted that the majority of the doctored videos and morphed images were indeed uploaded in Pakistan.
The comment came a day after the country's foreign policy establishment said that the PM would not take up with Zardari the issue of Pakistan-based groups or individuals, who circulated fake content on the web to fan hatred against people from the northeast, leading to their exodus from different parts of the country.
Sources in the foreign ministry have expressed discomfort with Singh's plainspeak with some even suggesting that he may have "spoken out of turn".
In contrast, Shinde stood by the home secretary, stressing that he had raised the issue of doctored videos being uploaded in Pakistan with Pakistani internal security advisor Rahman Malik. "I have also asked him to take action against those Pakistani elements who were involved in it," Shinde added.
The suggestion that the home secretary spoke out of turn has baffled the home ministry, with sources maintaining that Singh had kept the foreign policy establishment in the loop.
Although Singh himself refused to comment on Wednesday on the criticism that he fluffed his lines, he emphasized that New Delhi wanted Islamabad to take action against those who were responsible for uploading doctored videos that incited communal tension.
The home secretary did, however, clarify that he never blamed Pakistan for the SMSes which were circulated calling for retaliation against alleged atrocities on Muslims. "I have never said SMSes originated in Pakistan. But yes, majority of doctored videos and morphed pictures on the web uploaded from Pakistan."
He also said India never claimed that Pakistani government or its intelligence agency ISI was responsible for the inflammatory pictures but that it was the handiwork of some individuals in that country. He, however, declined to indicate any timeframe when India would share the details with Pakistan.
The MEA-MHA divergence on Pakistan is not new. Foreign ministry mandarins had also looked askance at the statements of Singh's predecessor G K Pillai. Known for his straight talks, Pillai would not mince his words when speaking about Pakistan's use of terrorism as a weapon against India, often discomfiting the foreign ministry officials, who revel in a nuanced approach to their formulations.
Government has already blocked over 300 web pages where these contents were uploaded. The host sites whose servers are located in USA have, meanwhile, been contacted to share details with India.
"It will take some time to get all those details. Once we get it, we will share it not only with Pakistan but also with other countries," said an official.
Officials in the ministry said that there were also evidence that some of the hate videos were uploaded in countries like Egypt, the US and UAE.
Thousands of people from the northeast living in cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Pune left their workplaces last fortnight following rumours of reprisal attacks after the ethnic violence in lower Assam.
The rumours spread after morphed images and inflammatory videos were uploaded in several hundred websites, falsely suggesting that atrocities were committed on minorities living in Assam during clashes between Bodos and Muslims.
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