Muslim Brotherhood’s New Startup : Kashmir

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A boycott campaign was launched last year September by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) nexus against India as well as targeting Saudi Arabia and UAE apart from France. The campaign was supported by the troll factories of Turkey and Pakistan. It was the first open campaign by MB through the new emerging nexus of Qatar-Turkey-Pakistan, dubbed as QTPi. While it had all the characteristics of propaganda, including the liberal use of fake pics and videos, it was not ordinary propaganda. It appears as a strength test for Muslim Brotherhood, as it put several of the news media from its arsenal to use, including the jewel Al Jazeera, risking their credibility. The sheer resource MB-led QTPi deployed in this fake news-driven propaganda made it abundantly clear that not only Brotherhood has arrived in India, but it also intends to stay.

The intent was soon clear when a hush-hush Tribunal was organized in Sarajevo (Bosnia, & Herzegovina) in December 2021 on the Kashmir issue. This was a good enough indicator that Brotherhood has decided to put their attention to this part. Contrary to the usual noise created around such events, the Tribunal was kept rather low-key. They were again testing reactions to an attempt by MB on appropriating Kashmir, less from India and more from the Jamaat stakeholders. Replacing the traditional crowd, all major players at the Tribunal were connected with Muslim Brotherhood. The next step, yet another report on Kashmir within a month by a UK-based legal cum investigative cum activist firm was no surprise.

These events are part of a larger design, a build-up to create a conflict space in the conflict industry. Muslim Brotherhood had successfully run a conflict industry in Palestine for more than a decade. Now it is looking to shift the business to a new location. And one of the key tools for making a viable conflict industry is BDSM: Boycott, Divestment, Sanction Movement.

The narratives that have been built in India in the last few years – from Islamophobia, Fascism to now Genocide are building blocks for this business enterprise. Going by the record, the conflict industry runs into billions of dollars..

This Report seeks to unmask the various fronts of the Muslim Brotherhood which have already been deployed into this new theater. The report also makes an effort to not only expose the MB networks and various individuals but also provide a blueprint of the playbook that is going to be deployed. Given the quantum of resources invested into this new start-up, it is going to be a protracted battle. The Report is divided into five parts, trying to answer the basic question – from who are the key players, to the extent of money involved in the playbook.

The geo-strategic conflicts, where the major voices are hijacked by external forces (activists) rather than the key stakeholders, tend to create a class of interests, whose interests lie not in resolving the conflict but in prolonging it, giving birth to a conflict industry. The key features of such an industry are that it involves different states and different religions/ ethnicities. Therefore, Palestine, Kashmir, Rohingya, or Uyghurs could be useful for the conflict industry but not Kurds or Balochis. The conflict industry needs ‘other’ to be effective.

The most important feature is that most vocal faces and organizations would generally have nothing to do with the conflict situation, would have no direct experiences, and yet would be the foremost noisemaker.

An important feature of the Conflict Industry is that it needs facades of various lofty ideals and claims without having anything to do with the causes. This has given birth to a new breed of activists and experts who thrive on the conflicts – known as vulture activists. Their primary responsibility is to hyperventilate on the issue, without actually doing anything about it. To carry out this act, one need not have any requisite education or training in any particular field. A vulture activist only needs good English and a capacity to get offended on everyone’s behalf. Some of the usual educational backgrounds are journalism (without a need to have ever worked as a reporter. Merely OpEd would do); anthropology (disproportionately high representation); or Communications. Another identifying mark – most of them would not have any meaningful employment and yet their lifestyle would show no signs of want.

Kashmir is not new to the conflict industry. A cursory search on some of the funding platforms reveals as many as 60 fund-raisers being run in the name of Kashmir by random ‘activists’ and ‘NGOs’ and ‘humanitarian relief’ organizations, many of which do not even possess basic capabilities to carry out any actual work. We have uncovered a series of such ‘enterprises’ during the Covid crisis in India where shady ‘charities’ such IMANA,^[1] Muslim Aid,^[2] and Penny Appeal^[3] collected millions of dollars in the name of the Covid crisis in India and did not deliver anything at all. These and similar organizations have been collecting tons of dollars for decades in the name of all conflict areas – from Palestine to Myanmar to Uyghur and of course Kashmir. However, what is the common feature of all these – not a single penny goes to the actual people who are victims in these conflicts. All the money is pocketed by the ‘activities’ their NGOs, and to their amplifiers – from the social media influencers to ‘concerned’ politicians. Another common feature – all these key players of the conflict industry happen to be in the US and Europe – from activists to media to the politicians!

So, in other words, a billion-dollar industry is being run in the name of various conflicts globally, where the money is going to the pockets of a set of ‘concerned entities’ all happen to be in the US or Europe. It is therefore in their interests that the conflict is never resolved. After all, none of these entities ever have to face the human cost of such conflicts. They only stand to gain.

In order to benefit from the conflict industry, there is a need for a continuous campaign. Every once in a while, the people benefitting from the conflict industry create new slogans to ask for funding again. The Boycott Divestment Sanction Movement (BDS) was one such campaign invented by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) to run the business of the conflict industry. It stands for boycotting the products from the target country, dis-invest from financial institutions, and calling for sanctions by the developed world as well as the US. It revolves around carefully designed hybrid campaigns involving media and ground activists (though the publicity remains the key factor). The more publicity of the conflict, the better prospect of the fund collection in its name. The BDSM campaign is tailor-made to suit its audience. Hence, to run in the Western world, it is done in the name of human rights and genocide. When run amongst the Muslim communities, it is projected as an Islamic cause.

BDSM was a significant improvement from the traditional fund collection methods deployed by Jamaat-e-Islami  (JeI) and similar factions, who rely primarily on religious donations (Zakat). ^[4] While itself a substantial sum, it requires comparatively more resources in the collection, as a significant part of Zakat donation happens in real life.  For  example, the collection of hides of animals after the Id-ul-Adha (Bakrid) is a major source of funding but requires significant resources in the collection and realization of revenue.

Where MB improvised was on two fronts: first, to take the cause to the Western world in the garb of human rights. It fitted well with the MB’s core philosophy – to look and act like West, to extract maximum benefit. Jamaat and similar factions lacked this skill. Their adherence to the traditional outlook, to remain as close to the essence of Quran and Hadith, made them appear ‘other’ in the Western world. MB on the other hand had discarded the traditional outlook for a more suitable Western appearance, which gave them windows to present themselves as ‘likeable’ Muslims to the West. And MB had been rather successful. ^[5]The second achievement was to leverage the technology and democratic institutions to channel funds. It was efficient.

However, having run Palestine’s cause’ for decades now, the MB and other fronts have milked the cow as much they could. There must be fatigue setting up, as nothing substantial has ever been achieved other than the fact that more and more activists have been holding more and more conferences and seminars in five-star facilities. And as with everything, even the conflict industry needs novelty. Added to the fact that a larger Jamaat-led nexus, which was operating the Kashmir conflict industry so far, stands exposed. MB so far has managed to keep nepotism minimized, and provides an equal opportunity to every vulture activist to partake in the booty.

Moreover, MB has over the years built a vast network spreading across Europe and the US (and now increasingly in Australia), which needs funding to survive. It has created generations of individuals whose only qualification is ‘activism’ to maintain their luxurious lifestyle. Hence, there will always be a need for one or more conflict industries.

For now, Kashmir is ripe.

As mentioned, Jamaat has burnt and the Pak establishment doesn’t have resources. Plus, having gone completely into the Chinese sphere of influence, the establishment may not command the same acceptability and access to resources as in yesteryears. Hence, it might not have been difficult for MB to take over the Kashmir ‘cause’.

The Chronology of Narrative Building:

To prepare for the Kashmir conflict industry, the homework was laid down over the years.

First, the soft image of India needs to be dented. Campaigns are run to discredit the image of the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi and his non-violence. It goes on to hurt the image of Yoga and Tea in a sustained campaign, all in name of human rights/ minorities rights/ women rights and so far.

Secondly, the narrative of ‘Islamophobia’ is pushed, despite the fact that the narrative is entirely fabricated and have been repeatedly exposed. In connivance with some willing ‘news media’ including from inside of India, the label stuck. While there is no denying that individual incidences do take place, there has been no attempt whatsoever to provide a data point for such claims. If at all, a series of fake and fabricated documentation have been deployed to cement the accusations. Selectively hyping individual cases, and giving all incidences a communal color, the narrative was gradually established.

Thirdly, the narrative of ‘fascist’ was established, which has a high resonance in the West. The narrative was carefully striven, with a coordinated campaign from across the sections, as detailed in the DisInfo Lab report ‘Unending War-I’. Having established the Fascist narrative, rest was easy. Human rights violation of Kashmir needs to be recycled with fake news and stories.

Fourth, there is a need to create a villain, to replace the soft image of Yoga and Tea. To this end, the bogey of Hindutva is projected. The propaganda machinery with collusion from domestic elements tried to replace the non-violence image of India with a fascist “also like radical Islamists” narrative.

Finally, once the Islamophobia and Fascism narrative is established it is time to introduce genocide. Ordinarily, one would require evidence for genocide, and this being the most serious allegation, it is not usually tossed around lightly. However, if one has the media machinery at disposal, it is not too difficult to push. Having learned the art of law-fare in a democratic system, and while incessantly calling India fascist, they have managed to enjoy all the perks and loopholes a democratic country offers.

Other than media enterprise, the MB over the years has also been building ground-level organizations in India. (Some of them have been hinted at and some documented, but a significant majority of them still operate below the radar. It would probably need an exclusive report). Therefore, it is not only capable of hyping any random or fake story but is also capable of creating incidents on the ground that could be hyped up suitably.

As a corollary to the conflict industry enterprise, it is important for the MB to whitewash the radical Islamists and terrorists. Every terror act needs to be whitewashed in terms of rebel or revenge to create a constant and consistent enemy. And if needed, outright fabrication. For example, a man killed by terrorists in Kashmir was spun as killed by Army, and the picture was a poster for many ‘human rights organizations’ and ‘reports’. It is no ordinary coincidence that most MB fronts have been found to have direct relations with terror organizations, and even have been funding terror groups.

An even bigger achievement of MB has mastered the skills to navigate the legal systems of democratic countries. Despite several MB fronts getting exposed for their linkages with terror groups, and even having funded such groups, they have managed to escape any harm. All they need to do is change the name of the front. And with a liberal dose of ‘Islamophobia’ as their defense, they have managed to blunt the attacks.

Implementation:

Kashmir human rights violation/ genocide tune gets higher pitch during certain dates, which the Pak establishment has sponsored over the years. And hence, it is no surprise that a ‘Tribunal’ and a ‘Report’ about the Kashmir genocide arrives right around the time. There is but one difference. Instead of the usual Jamaat fronts, this time the rein is in Muslim Brotherhood’s hand.

• A Tribunal
• A Report
• A ‘News’
• A Campaign

A Tribunal is formed to ‘investigate’ the allegations of genocide in Kashmir. While the Tribunal is yet to declare a verdict, a judgment is passed by another front. Based on their investigation, the front files a case in the UK Court. A news agency spins the random case to hype the report. The Report was then used to recycle the narrative of genocide. A campaign is launched ‘against genocide’. The ground is prepared for the launch of BDSM against India.

In mid-January a UK-based legal firm Stoke White Consultancy Ltd. based on an ‘investigative Report’ by its branch seeking an investigation of the accusation of genocide in Kashmir. While in itself it meant nothing, the news agency Associated Press published a story, with a fabricated and spun headline, though sensational. The AP declared that “UK Police has been asked to investigate Indian Army Chief”. ^[6]

The fabrication of the headline was something like this: a PIL is filed in a court in India against saying Turkish President Erdoğan for sponsoring terrorism, the AP would claim that “Erdoğan to be prosecuted for terror charges”!

And while the headline could have been sensational click-bait, what makes it deliberate misinformation is the fact that AP did not provide any information about the organization.

Stoke White Consultancy Ltd. was incorporated on May 16, 2016, as Media Logistics UK Limited with company number 10182101.^[7] The entity changed its name to Phronesis Consultants UK Ltd. on June 19, 2019, and again changed its name to Stoke White Consultancy Ltd on November 1, 2021.

Name	Period
Phronesis Consultants UK Ltd	19 Jun 2019 – 01 Nov 2021
Media Logistics UK Ltd	16 May 2016 – 19 Jun 2019

The key people associated with the Consultancy are two Camuz and one Dewan:

A. HakanCamuz:

The Director of the entity is Hakan Camuz, a Turkish-origin living in the UK. He holds UK citizenship and headed another Turkey-backed organization Turken Foundation UK since its formation in 2015 until 2019. ^[8] Turken Foundation UK was incorporated on August 14, 2015, with company no. 09734149. The official website of Turken Foundation UK is not active; however, its cache version redirects to the Turken Foundation USA, ^[9] which was formed in 2014 by two Turkish organizations: Ensar Foundation (established in 1979) and TURGEV (established in 1996 by present Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan). His son Bilal Erdoğan was also one of the board members once. ^{[10] [11]}

Note:
In 2016, Ensar Foundation was involved in a child abuse scandal in Karaman, a central Anatolian town in Turkey. One of the teachers was under trial for sexually abusing 10 children between 2012-16 at the guest house run by Ensar Foundation. ^[12} The foundation is known to be run by the close associates of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Hakan Camuz maintains a cordial relationship with the Erdoğan family. He invited Erdogan senior for dinner while serving as Director of Turken Foundation UK in May 2018. ^[13] Hakan has had good ties with Erdoğan junior since the time latter was a Board Member of the TÜRGEV foundation. ^[14] In 2014, Camuz represented Bilal in a case against CNBC and David L Philips when the news media exposed the linkages of Bilal and Turkey’s Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) of funding terror organization Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). ^{[15] [16]} IHH is known to be the tool of Turkey’s Intelligence agency Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı (MİT). One of its areas of operations includes building Islamic centers in several cities of Nepal in association with Islami Sangh Nepal (ISN), a Kathmandu-based NGO which is under the watch of Indian agencies to provide sanctuary to Indian terrorists. ^[17]

(Refer to Chapter 33 of “Kashmir Inc: a Conflict Industry”)

MUSIAD U.K
Camuz also served as the Director of Independent Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (MÜSİAD) U.K, which was a UK-based organization incorporated on March 13, 2019, with company no. 06846404. Turkey’s Ambassador to Britain Yigit Alpogan was present at the launch party. ^{18} The organization was dissolved on April 8, 2014. ^[19] The parent organization, MÜSİAD, is a ‘Businessmen’s Association’ founded on May 5, 1990, is a Turkish businessman’s group that aims to create a synthesis of business and Islamic conservative values. The organization is a good window for many to enter the Turkish ruling party. The Turkish politician Omer Bolat after his 15-year tenure in the MUSIAD Board of Directors joined AK Party Central Executive Decision Board. Turkan Akbas working with Stoke White since April 2013 is currently the vice- chair of MUSIAD. ^[20]

Black Pearl Management Consultancy Ltd.
Hakan Camuz is currently the Director of another UK-based entity Black Pearl Management Consultancy Ltd., (Company No. 11965823) incorporated on April 26, 2019, by Zafer Altinbas. ^[21] In 2013, Zafer was jailed for six years and nine months after pleading guilty to breach immigration law and receiving money from the proceeds of crime. After getting released, he formed this organization in London. ^[22]

B.  Cemre Eren Camuz:

Another name associated with Stoke White is Camre Camuz. She worked as Legal Assistant and Project Support Coordinator at Stoke White LLP between July 2016- September 2017. She later worked at TRT World as Associate Producer and Output Producer between Oct 2017-Dec 2018. She is currently employed as an Associate Producer at EA Games since August 2021. ^[23]

C. Khalil Dewan:

Khalil Dewan is the Head of Investigations at Stoke White, since June 2021. Dewan is the writer of the report “War Crimes by India” published by Stoke White Investigations (SWI). As per his LinkedIn profile, he specializes in OSINT, HUMINT, and SOCMINT investigations. (HUMINT is human intelligence, which is run mostly by intelligence agencies). Before joining Stoke White, he worked at TRT World Research Centre between January 2019-December 2019.^[24] He also worked as a Researcher at Middle East Monitor (2017-18), a news site that promotes the pro-Brotherhood and pro-Hamas view of the region. Memo’s director, Daud Abdullah, is also a leader of the Brotherhood-linked British Muslim Initiative, set up and run by the Brotherhood activist Anas al-Tikriti and two senior figures in Hamas^[25] Memo’s “senior editor”, Ibrahim Hewitt, is chairman of Interpal, the Hamas and Brotherhood-linked charity. Daud Abdullah, Director of MEM was Assistant Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) between 2003–2006 MCB (established by 1971 war criminal Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin) has ties with MB^[26] Daud Abdullah also attended  the  conference which had speakers linked with the Muslim brotherhood.^[27]

Targetting Specific Countries?

Stoke White has published a report against four countries: all at the target of Muslim Brotherhood – France, Saudi (& UAE), and India.

1. In February 2020, Stoke White had filed a case against the UAE and Saudi to the US, UK, and Turkey for their role in extrajudicial killings in Yemen.^[28] Stoke White requested the arrest of Mohammed Dahlan, the key advisor to Crown Prince of the UAE and former Security Advisor to Yasser Arafat.^[29] He was also behind the ouster of MB-backed Egypt President Mohamed Morsi and works with the UAE to fight against the MB. ^[30] In November 2019, Turkey had announced a $700,000 bounty for Mohammed Dahlan and put him under the “most wanted terrorist list”, two months before Stoke White’s complaint against the UAE, Saudi, and Dahlan.^[31]
2. Stoke White Consultancy Ltd. set up its investigative unit in 2021^[32] and published its first investigative report in July 2021. ^[33] The first report covered France’s drone attack in Bounti, central Mali on January 3, 2021. The drone strike was a part of France’s Operation Barkhane mission to kill the top leaders linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. However, France was later forced to admit killing civilians after a report by the United Nations was published on the attack.
3. The third investigative report: in January 2022, Stokes White investigates an accusation of genocide in India and files a case.

The four countries were also the target of the October 2021 social media campaign to Boycott Indian products. And while the campaign was shown to target India, it also targeted Saudi, UAE, and France at the same time.

Legal Forum for Oppressed Voices of Kashmir (LFOVK)

The front that has been active with Stokes White in hyping up the investigative report is an obscure ‘legal firm’ LFOVK, claiming to be representing Kashmiri voices. Khalil Dewan from Stoke White worked with LFOVK to curate the report. Dewan particularly worked with LFOVK founder Nasir Qadri after publishing the report.^[34] This handle spearheaded a Twitter trend along with the Stoke Whites on the “war crimes” in Kashmir after the report got published.^[35] LFOVK initiated the Twitter trend #arrestindianarmychief in London, Islamabad, New Delhi, and Istanbul.^[36] As per its website, LFOVK claims to have offices in Lal Chowk, Srinagar, Islamabad, and Istanbul and is currently headed by Pakistani Judge Justice Ali Nawaz Chawhan (Chairman) and Advocate Nasir Qadri (Director). On December 10, 2021 (World Human Rights Day), LFOVK organized a seminar with the Islamabad Institute of Conflict Resolution (IICR) and the Institute of Research and Reforms (IRR). LFOVK chairman Justice Ali Nawaz Chawhan called for the formation of an independent tribunal for Kashmir under the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Turkey.^[37] While in its new avatar, LFVOK presents itself as an independent organization, LFOVK was one of the entities which were removed from Kashmir Civitas’ website.^[38] KC is yet another front being run in the name of Kashmir, and which organized the Tribunal on Kashmir just a month ago.

Kashmir Civitas (KC)

As noted above, a Tribunal was organized in December 2021 in Kashmir. (Russell Tribunal on Kashmir (RToK) is detailed subsequently). The organization which hosted RToK is projected as Kashmir Civitas (KC), which describes itself as an international civil society and strategic advocacy organization committed to the socio-political emancipation, moral uplift, and economic empowerment of Kashmir. Although KC claims to have been registered as NGO in Canada, no information about its registration is available. The website domain was registered on September 23, 2019, indicating its likely formation in 2019.^[39] Like its registration detail, the website also does not provide any details of its members.^[40] The only person the organization shows in the public is its Secretary General Dr. Farhan Mujahid Chak. About a year ago, KC claimed to have its bases in Doha, Istanbul, and Toronto, but at present, the website shows its whereabouts in as many as five countries i.e., London, Beijing, Rome, Istanbul, and Toronto; omitting Doha from the list and adding London, Beijing, and Rome.

Moreover, KC also contained at least eight entities in its “useful links” section on its homepage namely: World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF), Justice for Kashmir (JFK), Kashmir Global Council (KGC), Kashmir Scholars’ Network (KSN), Stand with Kashmir (SWK), Legal Forum for Oppressed Voices of Kashmir (LFOVK), Americans for Kashmir Foundation (AKF), and Toronto for Kashmir. But at present, KC has removed three entities i.e., Legal Forum for Oppressed Voices of Kashmir (LFOVK), Americans for Kashmir Foundation (AKF), and Toronto for Kashmir from the website.^[41]

KC’s special call for BDS:

KC also has a section of BDS on its website that redirects to bds4kashmir.net ^[42] The domain of bds4kashmir.net was registered on October 11, 2019. ^[43] The section of BDS was put on KC’s website in June 2021, ^[44] three months before  the #BoycottIndiaProducts campaign carried out by the MB and QTPi nexus. The website has a list of Indian companies to boycott. Twitter handle on the same name was registered in July 2016^[45]  and followed by the  likes  of Huma Dar and Ather Zia, who were mentioned as ‘experts’ on the website of Stand With Kashmir (SWK). ^[46] The Twitter handle is currently dormant and could be used when the hype of BDSM against India would build up.

KC’s Lone face: Farhan Mujahid Chak: Jamaat – Brotherhood Bridge 

Chak is an Associate Professor of international affairs at Qatar University. He is also the Chairman of Veritas Leadership Consultancy. The CV of Farhan Mujahid Chak says
he was a recipient of the IIIT Research award in 2005 (MB affiliated). During his career,
he worked as Senior Consultancy Officer in the House of Commons (Govt. of Canada) for six months between January 2005-June 2005. He then joined the Liberal Party of Canada as a Public Relations associate between August 2006 -May 2007. He has also worked briefly at the TRT World (June 2017-March 2018) and Al-Jazeera Research Center (Oct 2012-Feb 2013) before setting up his organization Kashmir Civitas (KC). Tellingly, Chak is also writing a book “A New Partnership in the Gulf: Turkey, Qatar, and Pakistan”.^[47]

Déjà vu

This book indeed reinforces what DisInfo Lab had described in its earlier report – Arrival of MB,  except  that  the Lab got the order right – QTPi.

Chak appears to be the right candidate symbolizing the shift from Jamaat to MB – a Pakistani-origin based in Qatar. Chak’s five-year-old CV has these people as references:

• Iqbal Riza – Retired Pakistani diplomat, currently special advisor to the Secretary-General of the  United  Nations.
• Ghulam Nabi Fai – President, Kashmiri American Council (ISI)
• Syed Syeed –Director, Islamic Society of North America –Interfaith Council (MB)
• Dr. Jamal Barzinji – International Institute of Islamic Thought (MB)
• Dr. Ahmad Totonji – International Institute of Islamic Thought (MB)
• Dr. Hisham Al-Talib – International Institute of Islamic Thought (MB)

KC & QTPi:

KC held an All-Party International Kashmir Unity Conference in London on June 07, 2020, hosted by Raja Sikandar Khan, Chairman of Global Pakistan & Kashmir Supreme Council (GPKSC), and Kala Khan, its President. Some of the prominent participants of the event were Pakistan’s High Commissioner to UK HE Mohammed Nafis Zakria, Senator Gen. Abdul Qayyum, Naureen Farooq Ibrahim MNA & Member Kashmir Committee, Senior Minister AJ&K Ch Tariq Farooq MLA.^[48] In May 2020, KC jointly hosted an event “A conversation on Kashmir and Palestine and the Struggle for Freedom” with a Turkey-based organization, Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) to draw a parallel between the struggle and self-determination of Palestine and Kashmir, with Pak Ambassador to the US Masood Khan in attendance. The event was also attended by CIGA founder Sami Al-Arian who called for the BDS movement against India.^[49] Another conference on Kashmir was organized between June 29-30, 2020 at Istanbul University, where the calls for BDSM against India were raised. The participants in the seminar included Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Shibli Faraz; President of ‘Azad’ Jammu & Kashmir, Sardar Masood Khan; Chairman of Pak-Turkey Friendship Group in the Turkish Parliament, Ali Sahin; Pak Ambassador to Turkey, Syrus Sajjad Qazi; Lord Nazir Ahmed (indeed); Secretary General of World Kashmir Awareness Forum, Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai (he too); Rector of Istanbul University, Prof. Dr. Mahmut Ak; Istanbul University Dean of Faculty of Letters, Istanbul University, Prof. Dr. Hayati Develi as well as Head of Urdu Language and Literature, Prof. Dr. Halil Toker. ^[50]

In case the messaging was not clear, an article was got published by the Australian- American ‘journalist and anti-Islamophobe activist’ CJ Werlemen in TRT World titled  “Can Pakistan trigger a BDS campaign against India over Kashmir?”, two days after the conference.^[51] In his Op-ed, Werlemen concluded that sooner or later Saudi Arabia  and the UAE would reduce their support for the Indian government following “India’s recent moves in Kashmir” ^[52]

Comment:

It is interesting to note why KC removed the linkages of LFOVK. It is part of a standard textbook operation mastered by the Conflict Industry. By showcasing ‘multiple independent’ fronts, they try to create an illusion of multiple players and stakeholders. The campaigns such as ‘50 prominent organizations’ or ‘100 eminent personalities’ are part of the same toolkit. On the face, they give an impression of widespread support. However, even a small digging throws out that all of them are affiliated with the same nexus, in the present case, MB.

While the Brotherhood and Jamaat had been coordinating their activities in the US and Europe for a while, so fat the South Asian theatre was left for Jamaat to handle. The first public entry of Muslim brotherhood in South Asia/ India was seen last year with the seeding of the Boycott movement. MB had been nurturing some of the political/ civil groups in India for a while, it has been keeping a low profile, that is until now.

Something however has changed in the recent past.

Our long-time readers would have read the expose of the Jamaat-led business enterprise which is run in the name of Kashmir but benefits only a handful of individuals and their families – all settled in the US and Europe. However, after the exposé, these individuals and organizations got discredited and are no longer capable of running the Kashmir conflict industry. And hence, it seems that the baton of the Kashmir conflict industry was needed to be handed over to MB, a veteran of the conflict industry in Palestine. Compared to Jamaat, MB has better experience in running the BDSM. This transition was first witnessed during the previous boycott campaign that was launched against India – which was led from the front by Brotherhood and its affiliate ‘news media’ including Al Jazeera.

The absence of their carefully groomed next generation of vulture activists at the Tribunal except for a handful of ‘doyens’ of the Kashmiri conflict industry was also an indication that MB would run the show on its own. However, it needed the ‘Kashmiris’ at the event to establish its connection with Kashmir, even if by Kashmiri it meant only the ISI agents and rape convicts living in the US/UK and having no connection with Kashmir whatsoever. The fact that the Tribunal did not even pretend to engage other stakeholders on Kashmir indicates that MB means business – the business of collecting funds in the name of Kashmir.

Whether all segments of Jamaat are happy with this decision could be anyone’s guess.

We would always be thankful to the people like Lord Rapist Ahmed, Ghulam ISI Fai, and Huma K2 Dar for helping us connect the dots. In their absence, it would have been difficult to understand the logic of RToK. While these luminaries do not need much introduction, a brief reference would be in order. Lord Nazir Ahmed is a British politician of Pakistani origin. A former member of the House of Lords, he was made a life peer in 1998 on the recommendation of the then Prime Minister Tony Blair. Ahmed sat in the House until his retirement in 2020, before pending expulsion after being found guilty by the Labour Conduct Committee of sexually exploiting a woman. ^[53] The woman he sexually exploited was a Kashmiri who had sought help from him. This is a shining example of how the conflict industries benefit these vulture activistic – not only in cash but also to satisfy their carnal desires.

Ghulam Nabi Fai is a convicted ISI agent, who had also been to jail for his ‘services’. It would have been unkind to not invite him, even at the risk of revealing the ISI/ Pakistan link behind the Tribunal theater, though great efforts were taken to field new faces, not exposed by DisInfo Lab (as yet ;).

Another known Jamaat/ ISI stooge was Huma Dar, who is associated with Stand With Kashmir (SWK). ^[54] Huma Dar is a lecturer at UC Berkeley & an Adjunct Professor at California College of the Arts. She is also the founding  member of a working group on “Muslim Identities & cultures,” at UC Berkeley. Her father was a retired Pakistani Army officer, and her sister Aliya Farouk Khan’s father-in-law, Late Lt. Col. Mian Mohammad Yusuf Khan was  also in  the  Pakistan Army. ^[55] Dar is a Khalistani sympathizer and was involved in the 2017 Sikh Rally held in San Francisco. ^[56]

The Russel Tribunal on Kashmir (RToK) was held on December 17-19, 2021 in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. The Tribunal modelled itself on the famous International War Crimes Tribunal (‘Russell Tribunal’ or ‘Tribunal’) which was pioneered by grassroots international adjudication created in 1966 to examine the conduct of the United States and its allies in the Vietnam War. British philosopher Bertrand Russell convened the unofficial tribunal composed of prominent figures, including philosophers, scientists, politicians, writers, and lawyers, to hear evidence related to the United States’ intervention in Vietnam and to determine whether international crimes had been committed (International Criminal Law). ^[57]

The First Iteration: Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP)

Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP) was launched on March 4, 2009, during a press conference in Brussels. The press conference by chaired by Stéphane Hessel, retired French Ambassador. Other members at the launch event included Ken Coates (Chairman, Russell Peace Foundation), Leila Shahid (General Delegate of Palestine to the EU, Belgium, and Luxembourg), and Nurit Peled (Winner, Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought). ^[58]

The Jury members of RToP consisted of Human rights activists, writers, lawyers, and artists – including Angela Davis (American political activist), Dennis Banks (Co- founder of American Indian Movement), Miguel Angel Estrella (Argentine Pianist and UNESCO goodwill ambassador), Roger Waters (Founding member of Pink Floyd music band), Stephane Hessel (French Diplomat), Aminata Traoré (Former Minister of Culture of Mali), Alberto San Juan (Spanish actor), Cynthia McKinney (Former Member of the US Congress), José Antonio Martin Pallin (Emeritus Judge, Supreme Court of Spain), Alice Walker (Author), John Duggard (Former Special rapporteur for UNHRC and International Law Commission), Mairead Corrigan Maguire (Nobel Peace Laureate 1976), Gisèle Halimi (Lawyer), Ronald Kasrils (Former South African Minister of Intelligence Services), and Michael Manfield (Human rights lawyer).

The official website was registered on January 18, 2009, ^[59] and the organization was officially incorporated on April 29, 2011, with Company No. 0835868202 ^[60]  Russell Tribunal on Palestine describes itself as “an International  People’s Tribunal created by a large group of citizens involved in the promotion of peace and justice in the Middle  East”. ^[61] RToP conducted a total of six sessions on the “violations of international law by the State of Israel” in London, Barcelona, Cape Town, New York, and Brussels (twice). ^[62] The sheer status and caliber of the people involved with RToP stand in stark contrast with the Jamaat/ Brotherhood extended family gathering,  which  is  branded as RToK.

RToP v/s RToK

Seeing the pattern, it is obvious that the RToK has copied the idea from RToP, and spun it into a money minting machine. The MB nexus seems to have devised a new model applying the BDSM along with RToK together. This way, the left hand of MB (Tribunal) would create justifications/ ground by passing ‘verdicts’ and the right hand of MB (BDSM) would take that excuse to launch its campaigns.

The ‘Tribunal’ RToK claims to comprise Judges, prosecutors/moderators (sic), specialists/ academics, and witnesses. The tribunal does not have any faces for the public as of now, nor its registration documents could be found online. There is no website for RToK as yet (at the time of report writing). The Twitter handle was created in December 2021 as Kashmir War Crimes Tribunal Sarajevo (@KCrimesTribunal).^[63] Neither there has been any official press release on the RToK event, nor any official announcement on the formation of RToK ahead of the event.

The event/ Tribunal was organized by Kashmir Civitas (KC) along with World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF), the Permanent People’s Tribunal of Bologna (PPTB) Italy, Nahla (Center for Education and Research), the Center for  Advanced Studies in Sarajevo, International University of Sarajevo (IUS) and Al-Jazeera Balkans. ^[64]

The key organizers of the RToK event between December 17-19, 2021 are:

1. World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF)
2. The Center for Advanced Studies in Sarajevo
3. International University of Sarajevo (IUS)
4. The Permanent People’s Tribunal of Bologna (PPTB) Italy
5. Nahla (Center for Education and Research)
6. Al-Jazeera Balkans.
7. Kashmir Civitas (KC)
8. Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation (BRPF)

I. World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF)

As noted above, the only organization that has been included in this new venture is World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF) is an Ohio-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (no. 1536752) founded in 2005, –set up by Ghulam Nabi Mir along with Fai. WKAF claims to focus on “providing information on Kashmir and advocating for Kashmiris in the region and throughout the Diaspora”. Ghulam Nabi Mir works in close connivance with convicted ISI-agent Ghulam Nabi Fai who has served a prison term in the US is still active via WKAF. ^[65] Interestingly, Fai’s name has not been mentioned on the WKAF site; however, his name can be easily traced on the companies’ tax filings. ^[66]  Ghulam Nabi  Mir  was  also the founding Chairman of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an MB – affiliated ^[67] umbrella  organization that has proven connections with terror outfits like Hamas and banned entities such as ISNA Canada  and Holy Land Foundation. This is one of the likely reasons why WKAF is kept in the loop, despite the  transition  from Jamaat to MB.

(Refer to Chapter 5 of The Unending War Part 3).

II. Center for Advanced Studies in Sarajevo (CNS)

Center for Advanced Studies Sarajevo (CNS) is a Sarajevo-based organization led by Ahmet Alibašić. As per its website, CNS is a “non-governmental, non-partisan and non-profit organization dedicated to the comprehensive and sustainable development of BiH, a society based on peace, justice, the rule of law and respect for human rights.” ^[68]  Ahmet Alibašić, M.A, is a lecturer at the Faculty of Islamic Studies, University of Sarajevo, and at the International University of Sarajevo. He was educated in Riyadh (Arabic Language) and Kuala Lumpur and is currently working on a Ph. D. at the University of Sarajevo.

Muslim Brotherhood links:

Ahmet Alibašić is the director of the Bosnia and Herzegovina branch of the US-Muslim think-tank International  Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). ^[69] IIIT was formed in 1980 by the US members of the MB, Jamal Barzinji and Hisham Altalib in the presence of senior MB leader Yousef al-Qaradawi.  Both Barzinji and Altalib  were also  one of the early leaders of the MB adherent organization ISNA. ^[70] Alibašić’s links with the MB can also be established through his association with European Muslim Network (EMN) ^[71] alleged to be a European off-shoot of Muslim Brotherhood. ^[72]

European Muslim Network (EMN), Tariq Ramadan and MB:

EMN was incorporated on December 13, 2006 (company no. 0885624252) under the jurisdiction of Belgium. ^[73] However, in 2015, EMN was identified as one of the four Islamic organizations in Belgium that received EU funding and had links with MB. ^[74] [75]

The founder of the organization is Tariq Ramadan, son of Said Ramadan, and Wafa al- Banna, who was the eldest daughter of Hassan al Banna, who founded the Global Muslim Brotherhood in 1928.  Ramadan is a Professor of  Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University, teaching in the two Faculties of Oriental Studies and Theology & Religion. He is also Senior Research Fellow and Governing Body Fellow at St Antony’s College (University of Oxford) and Senior Research Fellow at Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan);  Visiting Professor at the College of Islamic  Studies, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (Doha, Qatar); Director of the Research Centre for Islamic Legislation and Ethics (CILE) (Doha, Qatar), President of the think tank European Muslim Network (EMN) in Brussels and a member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS). ^[76]. IUMS (Arabic: ااﻟﺘﺤﺎد اﻟﻌﺎﻟﻤﻲ ﻟﻌﻠﻤﺎء اﻟﻤﺴﻠﻤﯿﻦ; al-Ittiḥād al- ʻĀlamī li-ʻUlāmāʼ al-Muslimīn) is an organization of Muslim Islamic theologians chaired by the senior MB leader Yusuf al-Qardawi, was founded in 2004, and headquartered in Qatar. IUMS is described as the “supreme authority of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Extra-Curricular Activities of Vulture Activists:

Incidentally, Tariq Ramadan was accused of raping a disabled woman in 2009 and a feminist activist in 2012. ^[77] He was accused of rape in 2018 ^[78] and 2020. ^[79]  As is the case with Lord Nazir Ahmed, Ramadan,  another ‘activist’ has been immensely successful with his stint as a vulture activist. Ramadan is a vocal supporter of the BDS movement against Israel and called for the Global Resistance Movement  to End  Israeli Occupation on his blog in 2009. ^[80]

III.  International University of Sarajevo (IUS) – Turkish and Muslim Brotherhood imprints

IUS was the first organization that posted about the RToK event on its website along with the list of guests and partners. Interestingly, before hosting this event, IUS had never spoken on the subjects related to Kashmir. IUS is a private university formed by the Foundation for Education Development Sarajevo (SEDEF) in 2003 and inaugurated in the academic year of 2004/2005. IUS is based in three locations i.e., in Bosnia, Sarajevo, and Herzegovina. ^[81]

IUS and Erdoğan family

IUS is backed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP).  The  President of IUS is Professor Dr. Sevgi Kurtulmuş, ^{[82] [83]}  Professor of Economics at Ankara  University. ^[84]  Dr. Sevgi  is the wife of the former deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Numan Kurtulmuş (between 2014-17) and currently the party leader of JDP. ^[85] The founding organization of IUS is SEDEF which was founded by a group of businessmen from Turkey. SEDEF has several constituting organizations from Turkey and the organization controlled by the Erdoğan family. ^[86]  One of the several Turkish constituting organizations is ILIM YAYMA VAKFI, which is an Istanbul-based Foundation established on March 31, 1973^[87] by Erdoğan. Currently, his son Necemettin Bilal Erdoğan is the  President of the Foundation, ^[88] an IUS guest speaker. ^[89] Erdoğan’s closeness with MB is public knowledge, ^[90] and the role of Turkish official media behind the MB-led boycott movement against India has already been documented.

Fun Fact:

A University supported by the Turkish ruling Party honors Doctorate to the President! In May 2018, the university honoured President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the honorary doctorate. ^[91]

IV . Centre for Education and Research – NAHLA

Formed in 2000, the Center for Education and Research – NAHLA is a Bosnia-based NGO founded by a group of women for women empowerment. It has currently three active centres: Sarajevo, Bihac, and Tuzla. Sehija Dedovic is the founder of NAHLA and is currently serving as its President.  Sehija possesses a Master’s degree in International  Relations and  Affairs from the IUS. She is a member of European Muslim Networks (since 2006) that has alleged  links with MB. ^[92]

Specifically what kind of women empowerment Sehija has been doing was evident from the fact that she was  amongst ‘prominent signatories’ (professors, academics, scholars, politicians, activists, and internationally renowned  intellectuals) who signed a statement requesting the French Minister of Justice to stop the indictment of Tariq Ramadan accused of rape charges. ^[93]

V. Al-Jazeera

AJs descend – from a fresh voice to rival the Western ‘global media’ to a shill propaganda outlet has been rather swift. It seems that the masters do not have patience they want quick results on their bucks. So having spent a ridiculous amount of money, they have decided to extract every penny bit in the shortest time. Alas, the game of psy- war is a slow and long one. Al Jazeera’s role as an enabler of the anti-India ‘boycott’ campaign in October 2021 was explicit. It peddled the narrative of ‘Arabic world’s fury’, which was orchestrated by MB and its affiliated news platforms. AJ has had a history of fake news and propaganda, particularly targeting India. The deep-seated anti-India tilt of AJ was evident in its depiction of Jammu and Kashmir. Most sovereign states desire, rather demand, that any publication in their territory should depict the official claims/ maps. For the global audience, most of the neutral platforms adopt the UN maps. But AJ’s sympathies were clear. What is even more shocking was that AJ did not show Lakshadweep and Andaman Islands as part of India, the territories that are not even in dispute. ^[94] It has also peddled anti-India fake news from time to time. Earlier, in a news article, a photo of refugees moving from Amritsar to Lahore was used to claim that RSS killed Muslims in Jammu & Kashmir in an AJ article, which could incite communal tensions. ^{[95] [96]} The list of AJ fake news about Israel and the Middle East is even longer. AJ mostly plays subtle psy-war – It projects two stories for two different audiences. To the English-speaking world, they say, ‘Let’s remember the Holocaust and never repeat it’. ^[97] To the Arab world, they say, ‘Did the Holocaust happen? To the English world, they support gay rights. To the Arab world, they suppress gay rights! ^[98] Worth noting that the U.S. Orders Al Jazeera Affiliate to Register as Foreign Agent. The Justice Department says AJ+, a media outlet backed by the royal family of Qatar, engages in “political activities.” ^[99]

The MB connect:

As noted previously, several of its journalists are linked to the terrorist groups and Muslim Brotherhood.  In  May  2015, the U.S. Government designated long-time Islamabad bureau chief Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan as  “Member of  Al  Qaeda”  and put him on the terrorism watch list. ^[100] In 2014, two Al-Jazeera journalists- Mohamed Fahmy (AJ Cairo Bureau Chief) and Baher Mohamed (Producer at AJ Egypt) were sentenced to prison for seven and 10 years respectively for spreading false news and supporting the banned Muslim Brotherhood. ^[101] AJ journalists Yasser Abu Hilalah (former Al Jazeera Arabic MD) Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan (Bureau Chief of Al Jazeera’s Islamabad office)  have  been exposed for having ties to the MB. ^[102]

Al Jazeera Balkans- new front of AJ

Al Jazeera Balkans, a sister publication of AJ empire, remained no exception in peddling MB propaganda, and provides the platform to MB-linked ‘luminaries.’ ^[103] It is, therefore, no surprise that Al Jazeera Balkans is one of the partner organizations behind the RToK. AJ, as expected from an MB front, has done a fair share of reporting on the BDS movement over the years. As noted in our earlier report “MB arrives in India”, Al Jazeera helped  propagate  the  #BoycottIndianProducts social media campaign through its various handles i.e., Al Jazeera Global, Arabic, Kuwait, Turkey, Egypt, etc.

(Refer to chapter 3 of “Muslim Brotherhood arrives in India”)

One should start expecting AJ’s articles on this issue – including how this boycott is going/ hurting India’s economy to sow fear. A hallmark of these articles would be that they would all be in nature of OpEds, independent of facts.

While the RToK has tried to copy the format of RToP, the similarities end with the format. Too anxious to have the outcome secured, the Tribunal did not risk engaging independent authorities for the purpose. However, as the theater of Tribunal required to have judges, MB pulled out its long-term associates, most of whom have experience  with BDSM. The only common thing amongst the judges is they have no legal background or experience, and all  have connections with Muslim Brotherhood – except Nasira Iqbal, a Pakistani jurist.

A brief intro of Tribunal Judges is as follows:

John L. Esposito:

Esposito (pronounced Despacito, with D silent), is a former U.S. State Department advisor, who has  espoused  views  consistent with  Brotherhood doctrine. ^[104] His eligibility for the Tribunal was due to his claim in the 1990s that  Islamic fundamentalism was democratic ^[105] and posed no threat to the U.S. He has at least a dozen past or  present affiliations with global Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas organizations including having served on the advisory board of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought (IIPT) ^[106] in the U.K headed by Azzam Al-Tamimi,  an MB leader  in  the UK. Other board members of IIPT include Yusuf Al Qaradwi & Khurshid Ahmad  (Chairman of Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad). ^[107] He has also served with MB leader Al- Qaradawi on the Steering Committee of the Circle of Tradition and Progress ^[108] [109] and enjoyed a close relationship with the United Association for Studies and Research (USAR), ^[110]  a Virginia Think tank founded by Hamas Deputy Political Director Mousa Abu Marzook ^[111]  and run by senior Hamas’s member Ahmed Yousef, also part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee. In 2005, Saudi prince Alaweed bin Talal, a financial supporter of the MB, donated $20 million to the Center for Muslim Christian Understanding at Georgetown, headed by Dr. Esposito. ^[112] [113] In November 2008, Esposito served as an expert defense witness testifying on behalf of five former HLF officers, who were accused of funnelling 12 million USD to the Islamist terror group Hamas and continues to consider Palestinian Islamic Jihad member Sami Al-Arian a  close friend. ^[114] In 2004, John Esposito also came in defense of Tariq Ramadan’s visa revocation by the U.S  government. ^[115]

Dalia Mogahed:

Mogahed is a protégé of John Esposito. Mogahed is the Director of Research at the Institute for Social  Policy  and  Understanding (ISPU), where she leads the organization’s ‘pioneering research and thought leadership programs on American Muslims. Mogahed is former Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, where she led the analysis of surveys of Muslim communities worldwide.  Mogahed has been spotted several times at Islamic Society  of North America (ISNA)^[116]  conventions, which is a top ideologue of the MB in the US. ^[117] Dalia Mogahed was one of the panellists on Tariq Ramadan’s event ‘Secular, Islam, and Democracy’  event held at Copper Union in New York City, USA. ^[118] The Obama administration had appointed Mogahed to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships in 2009, the second such appointee having links with radical Islamists. ^[119]

Note:

In 2009, Aimen Nabi Mir, son of WKAF Ghulam Nabi Mir(also the founder of ISNA), was appointed into the  Obama administration Staff Chairperson of Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)^[120]

Yvonne Ridley:

Yvonne Ridley is a British journalist who was Chair of the National Council of the now- defunct Respect Party. She has one of the most interesting backgrounds, which brings her to the league of Carin Jodha Fischers, Danielle  Khans, and Werlemans. While reporting in Afghanistan, she was captured by the Taliban in 2001. She had a heart  change during captivity and subsequently converted to Islam in 2003. ^[121] (If ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ comes too quickly, might think again?). Ridley has been called “something close to a celebrity in the Islamic world”  by the  journalist Rachel Cooke and was voted the “most recognizable woman in the Islamic world” by Islam Online in 2008. Ridley married five times: The first one named Kim, whom she got married to at the age of 22 and left him within a year. Her second marriage was with a policeman, who was considerably older than her. Their marriage lasted for seven years before she left him and moved out. ^[122] Her third husband, Daoud Zaaroura, was an officer in Palestine  Liberation Organization (PLO) before joining Northern England Refugee Service in 2001.^[123]  They eventually  moved  to England, where Zaaroura worked as CEO of Northern England Refugee Service. ^[124]  Ridley had interviewed Ahmed Jibril, head of PFLP and leading suspect of Lockerbie Bombings. ^[125] Her eligibility for the Tribunal comes  from her defending the Muslim Brotherhood as innocent. ^[126] [127]

Jonathan A.C. Brown:

Jonathan Brown is an American Muslim scholar of Islamic studies, who served as Associate Professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He also holds Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization at Georgetown University, and has authored “Misquoting Muhammad”. Brown is listed as one of the faculties at The Fairfax Institute, whose parent institution is the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), ^[128] MB front. Jonathan is married to Laila Al-Arian, the daughter of Sami Al-Arian who runs CIGA and carries out pro-Turkey, and Pro-MB  propaganda. Laila is currently executive producer of Al Jazeera’s flagship U.S investigative documentary program,  Fault Lines. ^[129]

Hatem Bazian:

Bazian is a senior lecturer in the Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies Departments at UC Berkeley, ^[130] an experienced hand for BDSM. Bazian is an endorser of the Israel Divestment Campaign and a signatory ^[131]  to the U.S.  Campaign  for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. His past accolades include:

• Former executive board member of the United States Student Association. ^[132]
• Former head of UC Berkeley’s campus Muslim Students Association (MAS).^[133]

• Co-founder of Students for Justice in Palestine. ^[134]
• Founder of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). ^[135]
• Founder Director (2009) at the Center for the Study and Documentation of Islamophobia.

AMP is one of the NGOs leading the BDS movement in the United States. Leaders and senior members of AMP were involved, directly and indirectly, in providing funding assistance to Hamas.  The funding activity took  place  through  the Holy Land Foundation, which was the subject of US Treasury  designations. ^[136]  The US  Government  estimated that during 1995-2001, Holy Land Foundation sent 12.4 million USD out from the United States to donate funds, goods, and services to the terrorist group Hamas. ^[137]  Five Holy Land Foundation officials were found guilty  by a U.S. court on the charge of providing “material support to Hamas.” ^[138]

On its official website, the NGO declares that it supports the boycott campaign – BDS.^[139]  The NGO explains that BDS is a powerful and strategic tool for isolating the State of Israel ,  gives its website users information on the legal  status of the boycott campaign, and lists the reasons for imposing a boycott on Israel. ^[140] The NGO carries out  campaigns to depict the State of Israel as an apartheid state and calls for an end to American aid to Israel. ^[141] AMP was involved in campaigns against G4S security services and Airbnb for their operations in Israel. ^[142] One of the officers of AMP is Salah Sarsour, a board member of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee as well as the  registered  agent for the Wisconsin chapter of the Muslim American Society (MAS), ^[143]  a part of the US  branch of  Muslim  Brotherhood. ^[144] Bazian was one of the featured speakers at the KindHearts fundraising dinner,^[145] an organization floated by Hamas,  which was later banned by the U.S for funding terrorist activities.^[146]

Edward Omar Moad:

Moad is Associate Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Humanities, Qatar University. Moad is the spokesman and Projects Officer for the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA), a ‘humanitarian’  relief organization  based in  Columbia, Missouri that was removed from the State Department’s international aid  program in November 2000,  deemed “contrary to the national defense and foreign policy interests of the United States.” In 2004, IARA were designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) ^[147] Mubarak Ahmed Hamed, Executive director of IARA pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegal transfer of more than 1 million USD to Iraq in violation of federal sanctions and funnelling money to a known terrorist organization (AL-Qaeda). Ziyad Khalil, a U.S. fundraiser for the Islamic American Relief Agency, “supplied a satellite  telephone” that bin Laden used to plan the deadly bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and  Kenya  in  1998. ^[148]  Interestingly, while the head of IARA pleaded guilty, Moad claimed that reports ^[149] of the IARA financing Al-Qaeda constituted “an effort by a group of journalists to try to create fear against Muslim Americans.”

Mohamad Hamas Elmasry:

Elmasry is an Associate Professor in the Media and Cultural Studies Program at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communications at the University of North Alabama. He held assistant professorships at Qatar University from 2009 – 2011 and the American University in Cairo from 2011– 2014. Elmsary has written articles portraying MB as a victim of systematic violence.^[150] He has written for Al-Jazeera English, the Middle East Eye, Religion Dispatches,  Open Democracy, PULSE, Muftah, The Immanent Frame,  Jadaliyya, and Egypt Independent. His eligibility for the Tribunal might come from his book “Revolutionary Egypt in the Eyes of the Muslim Brotherhood: Framing Analysis of Ikhwanweb.”  He has appeared on local and international television, radio, and internet news networks including CNN, BBC World News, BBC World Service Radio Al-Jazeera  English, Al-Jazeera America, Al-Jazeera Live Egypt, Huff Post Live, NTV (Turkey),  WMNF Radio (Tampa, FL),  ARD (German Public Television & Radio), A9 Television Istanbul, SVT (Swedish TV News), and ABC News Australia Radio,  among others. ^[151]

Sedad Dedić:

Born on August 31, 1983, Professor Sedad Dedić is an Assistant Professor of Law, at the University of Zenica  in  Bosnia and Herzegovina^[152] In 2019, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the FEMYSO.org federation. ^[153] As per their website “FEMYSO is a pan-European network of 32 Member Organisations across 20 European countries  and is the voice of Muslim Youth in Europe and is regularly consulted on issues about Muslim Youth. Founded in 1996, FEMYSO is the subsidiary organization of FIOE – which was founded by the Muslim Brotherhood in 1989. ^[154]

One of the important leaders of FEMYSO over the years has been Ibrahim El-Zayat,  the leader of the  Muslim  Brotherhood in Germany. ^[155] FEMYSO is described by several researchers as a transnational offshoot of the Union of Islamic Organisations in Europe (UOIE) [renamed CEM, Council of European Muslims, in 2020], a structure close to MB and which is alleged to represent the fundamentalist strand of Islam in Europe. ^[156]

Two unrelated facts:

• The partner organization of FEMYSO is the Open Society Foundation of SOROS. ^[157]
• He visited Turkey in August 2021. ^[158]

Tarek Cherkaoui:

Dr. Tarek Cherkaoui is the Manager of the TRT World Research Centre. ^[159] He holds a Ph.D. in media and  communication studies from Auckland University of Technology (New Zealand). He has earlier worked with Qatar Foundation. ^[160] Qatar Foundation for Education,  Science, and Community Development is a state-led non-profit organization in Qatar, founded in 1995 by then-emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and his second wife Moza bint Nasser, who also heads the Foundation. As per the book, “Qatar Papers: How the State Finances Islam in France and Europe.” written by Christian Chesnot  and Geoges Malbrunot CHRISTIAN CHESNOT  and “Qatar  Foundation  pays Tarek Ramadan (grandson of the Brotherhood’s founder Hasan Al Bana) a monthly salary of 35,000  euros”. ^[161]

Shaikh Omar Suleiman:

Omar Suleiman is the Founder and President of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, and an Adjunct Professor of Islamic Studies in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program at SMU (Southern Methodist University). He is also the Resident Scholar at Valley Ranch Islamic Center and Co-Chair of Faith Forward Dallas at Thanks-Giving Square. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Islamic Thought and Civilization from the International Islamic University of Malaysia. He has been a speaker at both ISNA and ICNA Conventions, fronts of MB and Jamaat respectively in the US. ^[162] In late 2013, Suleiman posted an image used to signal support for the Muslim Brotherhood. ^[163]

(R4BIA, is a hand gesture and a sign that first appeared in late August 2013, thought to have  originated from  Turkey  and used in social media and protest marches in Egypt.It is used by the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters in Egypt in the wake of the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi) ^[164]  Suleiman is also accused of anti-Semitic views. ^[165]

Nasira Iqbal:

Amongst the Judges, she appears only to have no MB connection, and also appears to be one of the only two people with a legal background. Nasira Iqbal is associated with the illustrious family of South Asia. She was married to Javid Iqbal, former Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, member of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and son of the poet and philosopher Muhammad Iqbal. Nasira Iqbal was a member of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan, the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan,  and the Pakistani delegation to the Human Rights  Commission in Geneva. She was one of the first five women to be appointed to the Lahore High Court, where she  served as a justice from 1994 to 2002. She also served as a justice of the Lahore High Court from 1994 to 2002. She is also the president of an activist group, the Concerned Citizens of Pakistan Society (CCP).

John Anthony “Tony” Carty:

John Anthony “Tony” Carty is a legal scholar in Hong Kong, where he holds the Sir Y K Pao Chair  Professorship  of  Public Law at the University of Hong Kong. He formerly served as Professor of Public Law at the University of Aberdeen. Carty was Eversheds Professor, University of Derby, 1994-2003, Professor of Law,  University of  Westminster 2003-2005,  and then Professor of Public Law, the University of Aberdeen from January 2006- on. He is a holder of Sir Y K Pao Chair of Public Law, University of Hong Kong,  from April 2009 to the present. From  2010  on,  he is the ‘Editor in Chief of the Online Oxford Bibliography of International Law. ^[166]

Sehija Dedovic & Jasmina Gobeljić Dedić:

Dedovic has been detailed earlier (Center for Education and Research- NAHLA). Jasmina Gobeljić Dedić is the Executive Director of NAHLA Tuzla. ^[167] Both are connected with MB.

If the vulture activism had a face, it was RToK.

The Tribunal has amassed a great number of people at the Five-Star hotel in this picturesque  town  for the  ‘humanitarian cause’. The only qualification for the prominent attendees – they all had a connection with the MB/ QTPi nexus -either through some of the several MB fronts or through Qatar and Turkish media houses. The list of some of these eminences along with their claim to fame:

Mustafa Ceric:

Imam Mustafa Ceric is the former Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ceric held the position of Chief Mufti of the Bosnian Islamic Community for almost 19 years before he was replaced in September 2012. ^[168] According to a former US National Security Agency intelligence analyst, Mustafa Ceric is known to have had extensive Islamist ties since the time of the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. ^[169] Educated at Al-Azhar University, Ceric headed the Zagreb office of the Third World Relief Agency that sent funds and financed arms shipments to the Bosnian Mujahideen; and had extensive ties to a variety of Islamist groups and individuals including Osama Bin Laden and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the radical Egyptian cleric who was convicted of planning several terrorist bombings in New York. ^[170] Ceric is also tied to the MB through his membership in the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), headed by MB leader Youssef Al-Qaradawi. He is also a participant in the UK-based ‘Radical Middle Way’ comprised  of  scholars representing the global Muslim Brotherhood. ^[171]

David Hearst:

Hearst was The Guardian’s foreign lead writer and was correspondent in Russia, Europe, and Belfast. He joined the Guardian from The Scotsman, where he was an education correspondent. At present, he is the Co-founder and  Editor-in-Chief of Middle East Eye (MEE) – launched in April 2014. ^[172] MEE is alleged to be Qatar’s other covert media arm, after Al Jazeera. As per the British corporate records, Jamal Awn Jamal Bessasso is the sole  Director  of  MEE Ltd., which owns the Middle East Eye. ^[173] He was the Director of Samalink Television Production Company (based in Lebanon), which registered the Al Quds TV,  Hamas’s mouthpiece news outlet. ^[174] Moreover,  Jamal  also  had previous stints with Al Jazeera as director of planning and human resources in its Qatar office. However, David Hearst denies any linkages between Jamal Bessasso and MEE,  despite his name appearing as its director. Neither  Hearst nor the former employees of MEE confirmed whether who owned MEE if not Bessasso. ^[175]

There are other links between MEE and Al Jazeera. Jonathan Powell, an Al Jazeera employee in charge of special projects in the chairman’s office and close associate of former Al-Jazeera Media Network chief Wadah Khanfar, acknowledged serving as launch consultant for MEE in an earlier version of his LinkedIn profile (which he altered  after an Emirati newspaper exposed his role). Arwa Ibrahim and Jacob Powell also transitioned from Al Jazeera to work as MEE news editors, and Graeme Baker and Larry Johnson moved from Al Jazeera to MEE to become senior editors. At the very least, it appears that MEE recruited heavily from Al Jazeera.

Ahmed Bedier:

Bedier is a Broadcast Journalist for TRT World. ^[176 Before this, he was Communications Director and Executive Director -CAIR Florida (Nov 2002 – Mar 2008). CAIR describes itself as “America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group,” but in 2007, the U.S. government labelled CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation for financing the Hamas terrorist group. ^[177] In November 2014 CAIR was designated as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates along with a host of other Muslim Brotherhood entities. ^[178] CAIR was listed among “individuals/entities who are/were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee and/or its organizations.” The Palestine Committee is a secret body set up to advance the Brotherhood/Hamas agenda. ^[179]  The FBI subsequently severed official contacts with the group, saying it “does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner.” Bedier told the Christian Science Monitor that the case (Al-Arian was indicted for conspiracy to provide material support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)) merely was “an effective tool to silence anti-Israeli views in the  country.” ^[180] Bedier’s past statements show his sympathies with designated terrorist organizations. ^[181]

Sami Al Arian:

Sami Al-Arian is the Founder-Director of the Center for Islamic and Global Affairs (CIGA) of Turkey. Sami Al-Arian pled guilty to providing services and assistance to the U.S-designated terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). ^[182] He was later sentenced to prison and deported from the US to Turkey. Thereafter, he formed CIGA (Center for Islam and Global Affairs) in 2017. ^[183] MB-affiliated Turkish umbrella group the Global Coalition for Quds and Palestine (GCQP) sponsored an event (June 18-23, 2021), hosted by CIGA, ^[184] in which the Turkish Republic Ministry of Culture and Tourism were co-sponsors. GCQP’s Secretary, Mohammad Akram Al-Adlouni,  who was also a speaker at the  conference, is a member of Hamas’ overseas consultative body. ^[185] In 2012, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned the charity that al Adlouni ran from at least 2005 to 2010 “for being controlled by and acting for or on  behalf of Hamas.” ^[186]

Jamal Elshayyal:

Jamal Elshayyal is a British news producer for Al Jazeera English. ^[187] He was a student at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. In 2006, he joined Al Jazeera on the Middle East Desk.  In 2010,  he was covering  The  Gaza Flotilla. ^[188]  He was formerly a spokesperson for the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS). ^[189]  FOSIS is an umbrella grouping of most major university Islamic societies in the U.K. A 2008 report  outlined its  ties  to the Muslim Brotherhood. ^[190]

Emir Hadzikunic:

Served as an ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Islamic Republic of Iran (2010-13) and Malaysia (2016-2020). He has lectured at the International University of Sarajevo and other universities in south-eastern Europe, Malaysia, and Singapore. His work gets published in Al-Jazeera Balkans.

Altaf Hussain Wani: the Lone Wolf from ISI Den:

While the MB seems to be in the driving seat for now even in the Kashmir conflict industry, some Pakistani members were allowed to participate in the bargain. Even if Jamaat had conceded its fort to MB, the ISI would still want a shoe in the door. The lone wolf, Pak flag holders in the Tribunal Olympic, 2021 was Wani.

Altaf Hussain Wani is the senior vice-chairman of the Jammu Kashmir National Front (JKNF).  He is also  the  Chairman of Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR), and a member of All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC). Wani is known as Mentor of Shaista Safi, ^[191]  daughter of Ghulam Muhammad Safi,  who has served as the  local  convener of All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) in Muzaffarabad, PoK. ^[192]  Shaista is a former TV anchor at PTV News and currently a Lobbyist at Youth for Kashmir (YFK)– ‘International Kashmir Lobby Group’, that is lobbies for separation of Kashmir from India.  Shaista got married to the separatist Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur (in 2016), whose father Mohammad Ayyub Thakur worked with the ISI to send funds to terrorist groups and separatists in Kashmir ^[193] Wani was one of the speakers at the Seventeenth meeting of IPS Working Group on Kashmir  on Dec 2,  2021, where Farhan Mujahid Chak was the keynote speaker. The topic: Qatar’s potential role in facilitating Pak-India  dialogue on Kashmir discussed. ^[194]

The recent event seemed like a cameo for several new ‘activists’ who are expected to be honing their activism skills  on the Kashmir cause. For many of them, this appears to be also their debut with MB, as so far, we didn’t find any of their previous association with the banned outfit. Most of these names have not spoken about the Kashmir cause  before the event except sporadically, if at all. However, this might soon change and the Kashmir conflict industry could suddenly find many saviours mushrooming from the BDSM. Some of the attendees included:

Malik Nadeem Abid:

Malik Nadeem is the Secretary-General & Ambassador to UN: International Human Rights Commission-RFT. He is of Pakistani origin and is currently residing in New York.^[195] Abid studied Economics at GC University, Lahore, Pakistan.  In 2014, International Human Rights Commission nominated him as Ambassador to United Nations. In June 2016, he was appointed as Secretary-General of the International Human Rights Commission and Executive Director of IHRC Relief Fund Trust. Malik Nadeem Abid served as a member of the National Council of “Fellowship of Reconciliation” to promote peace and harmony among different religious and ethnic communities. He is also the New York  Chapter  President of “American Muslim Voice Foundation” and sits on AMV Foundation’s National Board. The webinar was also addressed among others by Pakistan Ambassador to Azerbaijan Bilalji, Azerbaijan MP Ganira  Alasgar  qizi  Pashayeva, Malik Nadeem Abid, and Mushal Malik.

Khaled Beydoun:

A US-based ‘journalist’, wannabe influencers whose claim to fame has been spreading fake news about India and trying to benefit from tragedy. He had shared a Bollywood movie screenshot as evidence of communal violence in India. ^[196] After the horrific Christchurch Mosque shootings, Beydoun allegedly plagiarized ^[197] the work of New  Zealand journalists and seemed to spread misinformation about the attack. Beydoun has also been roundly criticized by Muslims for growing his Instagram account of the shootings by organizing a promotional free trip to New  Zealand. ^[198] Given his performances so far, he looks promising as a future ‘vulture activist.’ An added qualification,  he is fast with the ‘islamophobia’ card.

Ermin Sinanovic:

Executive director of the Center for Islam in the Contemporary World (CICW) at Shenandoah University. Former director of research and academic programs at the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), where he was also the director of the Fairfax Institute (TFI is a school of IIIT).

Mary Flora Hunter:

Mary Hunter is a Postgraduate Research Fellow at the Centre for Army Leadership and also at the London Institute of South Asia (LISA). She regularly writes articles on Pakistan and its diaspora in the UK and is currently undertaking a Ph.D. on Islam in Pakistan. She founded Interfaith Exchange in Jul 2020 with Rahim Zafar (Pakistan- born).  Zafar has  previously worked with Islamic Relief UK ; currently a freelance writer at The Muslim Vibe. Written 5 articles for CSCR ^[199] LISA is a parking institute for Pak/ ISI army officers who could not be accommodated within Pindi. LISA does propaganda only as a side business.

Lorenzo Veracini:

Lorenzo Veracini is Associate Professor in history and politics at Swinburne’s Institute for Social Research. His research focuses on the comparative history of colonial systems and settler colonialism.

Dr. Emir Suljagic:

Bosnian journalist and politician who is currently the Director of the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial. Assistant  Professor in the International University of Sarajevo. He served as Minister of Education of Sarajevo Canton from 13-Jan-2011 until 29-Feb-2012 and was also Deputy Minister of Defense from 31-March-2015 to 10-December-2015.

Daniyal Ubaidullah:

Vice President: King’s College London Students’ Union. LLB -King’s College London (2018 – 2021). Research Intern -J&K Coalition of Civil Society (2016-19). BA, Sociology – Hindu College, University of Delhi (2015 – 18).  High  School  Diploma, Humanities/Humanistic Studies – Delhi Public School, Dwarka (2013 – 15).

Dr. Syed Mujahid Gilani:

President Kashmir Youth Alliance, Pakistan. Nephew of Aasiya Andrabi & Dr. Qasim Factoo and from  the family  of  Syed Ali Gilani.

Dean Accardi:

Assistant Professor of History, Connecticut College, Dean Accardi is a historian of gender and religion in South Asia  and the Islamic World.

Professor Brian Toon:

Owen Brian Toon is a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences. He is a fellow at the Laboratory for  Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Mowafa Househ:

Associate Professor, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar.

Given the build-up and investment being done in the Kashmir theatre, it is obvious that much larger sums  are at stake. To gauze the extent of money going to be generated from the Kashmir conflict industry, we dug into the previous conflict industry run by MB – Palestine. The BDSM for Palestine’s cause has been running for about a decade, and hence provides a good measure of what could be expected. As mentioned above, there are multiple sources for funding in the name of Palestine, of which a major chunk is collected by the network  associated with  BDSM. The NGOs involved in BDSM receive funding via three major channels:

• Direct Funding from foreign governments; and
• Indirect Funding is provided by governments to third parties (foundations, humanitarian, development, and church-based NGOs), which channel funds to local NGOs.
• Fund collected directly from the common public on the ground.

Breakdown of Funding:

We started with a conservative approach, collecting funding details of the NGOs which were involved in the BDSM and who have linkages with one or more of the core organizations including Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), (detail is provided in the next section). These NGOs are members of the BDS National Council (BNC) and are listed on the BDS movement website. ^[200] We found that apart from other sources, two key sources for their  funding have been from the EU and the US.

European Union Funded NGOs:

For this purpose, we collected funding details since 2007 (two years after the BDSM was launched) and till 2019, till  the date data is available. ^[201] The list of major recipients is as below:

Year-wise Collection:

On average, the funding to select organizations from the EU alone is to the tune of Eur 34595693/- which averages  about Eur 3 million (INR 23 Cr per year).

U.S Funded NGOs:

Despite the apparent bonhomie of Israel with the US and the public narrative to the same effect, it was surprising to find that several state-backed US organizations have been providing donations to the NGOs who are active participants of BDSM. Whether it is a conscious policy to keep both sides engaged or bureaucratic amnesia is hard to tell.

I. National Endowment For democracy

NED is an NGO in the United States that was founded in 1983. NED promotes the growth and strengthening  of  democratic institutions around the world. NED was created by The Democracy Program as a bipartisan, private, non-profit corporation, and in turn, acts as a grant-making foundation. ^[202]

Fund-Link can be availed here: ^[203]

The total donation for just four years amounts to $ 126,000, averaging $ 31,000 per year.

II. Open Society Foundation

Open Society Foundations (OSF), is a grant-making network which was founded by George Soros. OSF works in more than 120 countries. The total expenditure of OSF is around 18.1 billion dollars with more than 50000 grants given  in  various countries. ^[204] The list of NGOs that received funding from the Soros Foundation include ^[205]

year-wise collection:

III. Rockefeller Brothers Fund

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund was created in 1940 by the sons of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. It is a private family fund for philanthropic work. The Fund’s stated mission is to “advance social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world.” ^[206] The current president of RBF is Stephen Heintz, who was appointed to the post in 2000. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is part of the Steering Group ^[207] of the Foundations Platform F20, ^[208] an international network of foundations and philanthropic organizations founded  in 2017. ^[209]

year-wise collection:

Financial Summary

A Booming Industry: Five-yearly funds received:

As is shown, the conflict industry is witnessing continuous growth every year. Bar plot of the five-yearly total Funds  Received Distribution:

The Small Vultures

As noted during DisInfo Lab’s story on IMANA – which has siphoned off millions of dollars in the name of helping India during Covid, several fund collections were going on simultaneously on Covid by random fronts. There was no transparency about these fund collections nor any accountability by the US or Indian govt. During the research, we had come across several other fronts being run in the name of Palestine as well. A collection of such funds from one platform alone indicated about 65 collection drives, as is listed below:

Average Amount collected:

Top Five Campaigns:

Total Amount Collected:

Total amount (in USD) is equivalent to: 1,696,016 USD

Overall, in the last decade total amount received in the name of Palestine amounts to $ 52 million  (INR 386  Cr approx.) from institutional donors in the EU and US alone. This amount doesn’t include other fund collection initiatives in the name of Palestine. For example, the Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA) claimed  to have spent more than $ 7 million in 2019 alone. This is but one of the several organizations helping Palestine.  IMANA further managed to raise Rs. 1,348,944 (17,985 USD approx.) ^[210] through fund-raising platforms apart from  through Instagram. On December 28, 2021, IMANA claimed to have provided another $100,000 K worth of aid to  Palestine. ^[211]

If one were to add the fund collected locally in name of Palestine in different countries, this would cross billion of  dollar industries. All in the name of Palestine.

Seeing the fund collection drive and the amount collected, it should be obvious that Palestinians must be met  with at least their necessities. But what indeed is the picture?!

Palestine, officially recognized as the State of Palestine by the United Nations and other entities including India, is a  de-jure sovereign state in Western Asia officially governed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and claiming the West Bank and Gaza Strip with Jerusalem as the designated capital. In practice, however, only partial  administrative control is held over the 167 “islands” in the West Bank, and Gaza is ruled by a rival government  (Hamas). The territory claimed by the State of Palestine has been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967.  Palestine has a population of 5,051,953 as of February 2020, ranked 121st in the world, and still, 29.2% of the population is below poverty as per the latest stats of 2017.

Complete details are given below: –

Palestine has about 1,329,000 people below the official poverty line as per the United Nations data (2016). The amount of total fund collection on an average per year has been in hundreds of millions if not billions. If one were to account for some overhead expenses  (extremely low in cases of online donations),  even then each  person  below  the poverty line would have been brought out of poverty. Even if a fraction of the amount had reached Palestine, it could have at least reduced the unemployment in the country. If not tragic, it would be ironic that during the same time, the unemployment rate in Palestine has increased consistently with the funding spent in their name!

Conflict industries require sophisticated entrepreneurs who can talk about the plights of others with almost lived empathy even if from the comfort of their plush luxury apartments in the US and EU. The industry needs refined and well-trained brains to articulate the sufferings and exploitations to compel not only the average social media user but also international organizations and foreign governments. The industry needs qualified designers to create  posters  that can bring tears if not blood from the most cold- hearted person. The conflict industry requires full-fledged engagement from a breed of activists whose 24/7 job is to work for the ‘activism’. This category of  vulture activism  requires sophisticated minds who need to meet and hyperventilate about the cause in no less than a five-star climate. Since all this they are doing for the social cause, it is incumbent upon the society that it takes care of them. It is no surprise that being an ‘activist’ has become one of the most popular job profiles and an impressive Twitter bio.

The vulture activists could be specialized, which talk about a particular cause, or generic, who can talk about every cause, even at times taking of contradictory causes. Their professional qualifications generally include  journalism/mass communication, humanities, and social science. A legal background is a super qualifier,  and a  particular concentration is found in anthropology for some regions. Such activists’ most academic publications are on Twitter. Despite having no known sources of income, they could be found traveling the business class to mostly the first world countries and brainstorming in five-star hotels. In the name of journalism and reporting, they mostly write Op-eds,  which do not constrain themselves with facts,  data and broader trends.

Education	Journalism/ mass communication, humanities, and social sciences. Law as a super qualifier. Incidentally, highest per capita concentration in anthropology.However, no educational qualification is the best in themarket, as a hallmark of the purest form of activism.
Research/ Publications	Mostly Twitter threads. Top rankers get OpEds.(OpEd need not be contaminated by facts/ data)
Essential Qualification	Survives on conflicts, tragedies, and natural or man-madecatastrophes; capability to hyperventilate on random topics
Areas of Expertise	No Known Source of Income. At times have a donation account appended.(But this need not hamper a five-star lifestyle).
Honorifics	Need not be constrained by any field, can have an opinionon every topic Activist;  Expert; Journalist (w/o having reported, or affiliated with any media) or any fancy synonym. Mostly pre-fixed with eminent/ prominent;

Other Characteristics: Mostly found in identifiable herds, at ‘international seminars/ conferences’; have capabilities to opine on unrelated  events in a random part of the world; strong binaries; highly influenced by Bushian dictum (if not with us – against us). Push every individual and view in strictly pre-determined ideological categories and  advocate for diversity  while bulldozing with a homogenized worldview. Silence on human rights violations by terrorists in conflict theatres.

While vulture activism is manifested in various forms such as celebrity activism, the conflict industry has a much larger network as it needs to source content from the conflict zone.  The same conflict zones where one or  other  radical/terrorist groups might be operating, which incidentally is never a concern for vulture activists. It is therefore  not surprising that whatever money is left from activism, it might be finding its way to terror activities.

RToK: a Glimpse in Vulture Activism:

As mentioned, the ‘activists’ need five-start facilities at beautiful locations to talk to each other about the world’s pressing issues. Keeping with the standards, the activists gathered at Hotel Hills Sarajevo, a five-start property. Basing the standard rates, we tried to calculate the total cost of the Conference. These calculations are based on  generally-available rates and Hotel offerings. Apart from that, the flight travels and local commutations. We are not  aware of the activists were also given some remuneration, though most likely yes. After all, this is a profession. These calculations are on the conservative side, the likely expenses are to be more than this.

Hotel: Hills Sarajevo (Butmirska cesta 18, Ilidža 71210, Bosnia & Herzegovina). ^[212]

• Total Judges and Attendees – 45 (physically travelled)
• Stay at Hotel – 17-19 December 2021 – three Nights

Minimum Cost Calculation:

• Single bedroom with breakfast – 120 KM/per room/per day = 120X45X3 = 16200 KM

• Buffet cost – 75 KM/per person/per session for 45 people, lunch and dinner for 17, 18 and, 19 – 75X45X6 = 20250 KM

Gala Dinner on 19^th Night:

• Ambient Lighting – 400 KM = 400 KM
• Barbecue – 5 KM per person – 45X5 = 225 KM
• Sweet/Fruit Corner – 5 KM/per person – 45X5 = 225 KM
• Non-Alcoholic Drink/ Alcoholic Program – 5 KM/per person – 45X5 = 225 KM

Total – 37525 KM / 1617358.25 INR / 21732.71 USD / 19156.63 EURO

Flight Details:

Note: –

• Below flight details include the minimum round-trip price for a single person.
• It is been taken from skyscanner.net.
• The destination is taken based on the profiles of the Judges/Attendees.

• Maximum Judges/Attendees are from the first 3 locations

• Maximum Judges/Attendees are from USA, hence the average cost of round-trip travel = 22* £539 = £11858= 16073.51 USD = 1,195,789.71 INR

• Average cost of ticket for other 23 travellers: locations (all except 2 & 3) = £288.8 =  390.38 USD =  29,123.379 INR

• Total Cost for 45 travellers = £ (11858+288.8) = £12146.8 = $16464.98 = 1,224,916.41 INR

Total Approximate Cost for the Tribunal (a conservative estimate): $ 40,000 (INR 30 Lakhs)

The amount doesn’t include the payments made to the attendees, presuming they all did it for free. However, neither the hosts nor the guests told anything about their source of revenue for hosting the event.

“Siphoning off the Money is NOT the only concern”: IMANA, a Case Study

The second wave of COVID-19 in India in 2021 brought opportunities for some shady NGOs, who have  direct  links  with Terrorist organizations. It gave impetus to one of the worst scams in human history i.e., #CovidAidScam2021. An Illinois-based medical relief organization and charity organization Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA) conducted #CovidAidScam2021. IMANA with links to Pak and Jamaat groups, its charity wings,  and  terror groups.

• Collected funds via different platforms- IMANA launched a campaign #HelpIndiaBreath on Instagram, Just Giving (Crowd-funding platform), and on their website from April 27th and 28^th in 2021. They received a huge amount of donations and kept on changing their target on Instagram.

• Kept revising fundraiser targets- Overall, IMANA raised Rs. 8.77 crores from Instagram through the #HelpIndiaBreathe campaign, followed by 298,919 USD (approx. 2 crores INR) on the Just Giving platform. However, it seems to have collected much more donations from other platforms. As per the claims of IMANA Chairman Dr. Ismail Mehr (Pakistan-origin doctor) on May 7th, after reaching $100K on the second day, IMANA started receiving donations at a speed of$100K per hour.

• Collaboration with non-FCRA local partners- IMANA collaborated with the US-based Saiyed Foundation that had zero transactions and activities in the last six years.  It also collaborated with Gujarat  Sarvajanik  Welfare Trust (GSWT), an Ahmedabad-based charitable trust, which is not the Foreign contribution  regulation Act (FCRA)-approved  NGO  and had been in news for the wrong reasons during the second  wave of COVID-19. Non-FCRA approved NGOs  are  not permitted to take foreign funds.

• Exploiting India’s Goodwill and Gaza’s plight- IMANA managed to raise millions of funds on the goodwill of India. As a result, it received funds from all over the world, including from countries where India had sent Covid vaccines. While no help came to India, IMANA launched another fund-raiser for Gaza! On 19th May,  IMANA claimed $2 Mn of help to Gaza, edited to $7.6 Mn within 2 days! So, it delivered $5.6 million in two  days. The fund-raiser for Gaza barely crossed 23k USD.

• Lack of transparency and accountability- While IMANA cashed on India’s goodwill and collaborated with legally ineligible NGOs, it also offered no accounts of the total funds collected during  the “Help  India  Breathe” campaign. There has been little demand from either media or community from these organizations demanding more transparency about their activities – from fund collections to its disbursal.

• Connected with radical Islamists/ terrorist groups- IMANA was formed by an Islamic umbrella organization of North America- the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which in turn was a revamped product of the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA). It is to be noted that both MSA and ISNA are adherent  to the Muslim Brotherhood. ^[213] ISNA has been alleged to have financed the terror activities of Hamas^[214]  ISNA’s terror funding history has had its charity status scrapped. ISNA’s Canada front was suspended for terror funding to Relief Organization for Kashmiri Muslims (ROKM) – a charitable arm of Jamaat-e-Islami(JeI) and distributing $280,000 to an organization, linked to a Hizbul Mujahideen. ^[215] IMANA works with Al-Mustafa Welfare Trust (AMT), which is run by the Pak Army fraternity as a part of the “Milbus” concept. Besides, it funds the Al-Khidmat Foundation, a charitable arm of JeI. ^[216]  It is the same organization that aids militancy supports Hizbul Mujahideen and funds Hamas. ^[217]

What alerted us to study the keyword #Boycott was a sudden campaign last year October, targetting Indian products. What was projected as an ‘Arab anger’ against India on the issue of treatment of minorities, turned out to be an orchestrated social media camping involving fake news/ fake videos and propagated by a close network affiliated with Muslim Brotherhood, and hyped through a series of news media platforms all affiliated with MB, including Al Jazeera. The campaign was also the first known instance of coordination between the new nexus emerging between Qatar, Turkey, and Pakistan (QTPi). It was also the first instance of Jamaat-e-Islami ceding the turf to MB in South Asia, though as noted MB has been building its organizations in India for a while. In yet another first, it was also the first known instance where Pakistan troll machinery affiliated with the Pak establishment openly participated in a campaign designed to target Saudi Arabia and UAE, using India as a plank.

1. In late September (2021) #اﻟﮭﻨﺪﯾﺔ_اﻟﻤﻨﺘﺠﺎت_ﻣﻘﺎطﻌﺔ (#BoycottIndianProducts) trended on Twitter in parts of the Arab world, essentially in Egypt and Iraq, calling to boycott Indian products. The campaign was being led by people belonging to Qatar, Turkey, and later Pakistan (QTPi).
2. The campaign was already in play since 2018, but it never managed to fetch success from it. It happened in Jan 2018; Feb 2019; Sept 2020 and again in September 2021.  Only this time to be led by  the Muslim  Brotherhood.
3. Senior figures of the Muslim Brotherhood such as Mohamed Al Sagheer, Sami Kamal El-Din, and Al Jazeera journalists Yasser Abu Hilalah and Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan, both linked to MB and terror outfit Al-Qaeda participated in the #BoycottIndianProducts campaign.
4. As with any organized propaganda, the campaign was first initiated by the MB influencers, then given traction by the media outlets affiliated with the MB, and amplified by troll networks.  Most of the  videos/posters used under the #BoycottIndianProducts were fake, already debunked by several  prominent fact- checkers in India.
5. The propaganda news outlets included several fronts of Al Jazeera, TRT World, Rassd News, Arabi21 News, Watan Serb, and Al-Araby TV News.  Their reporting essentially targeted Saudi and the UAE in the past,  as well as present,and particularly Prince MBS of Saudi for maintaining good relations with India. Some of them were also on the list of the media outlets Saudi had demanded Qatar to shut down in 2017. ^[218]
6. In a few days, the Pak troll machinery especially pro-PTI handles and IT cell cabal (like @WeareTeamGP, @EmergingTeam, @WeTeamISP_, @WEareISPIANS, @WeAreVOIK) picked the #BoycottIndianProducts hashtag campaign and trended in their country. They shared fake videos, ran bot- like campaigns, and alternatively promoted Pakistani products, mainly rice.
7. Prominent Pak handles to have participated in the campaign included Huzaifah Farid, Journalist and Strategic Analyst at Pakistani Strategic Arabic Division, and journalists Aman Ur Rehman and Shahid Raza.
8. The handles that targeted India using the campaign also targeted France and Saudi Arabia in a similar pattern by running #Boycott_French_Products (ﻗﺎطﻌﻮا_اﻟﻤﻨﺘﺠﺎت_اﻟﻔﺮﻧﺴﯿﺔ).

It soon became apparent that while the October #Boycott campaign was the first larger- scale campaign, it was not the first #Boycott campaign against India. The seeding and preparation for something like this were undergoing for a while, though at a smaller scale. To understand the trend, and implication, we collected the data of social media chatter on the topic, using the BDS keywords and related phrases.

We collected a data set of 2535 tweets on the occurrence of “#BDS Kashmir” keywords from Twitter (which is the key platform for the BDS campaign) to see when did the chatter on the BDS movement started, and whether it was about the BDS movement against India. The time range for the data was from the beginning of the ‘limited- character world’, i.e., the beginning of Twitter, i.e., from March 2006 to December 11, 2021.

Below is the graph of tweets plotted on a year-wise time axis.

We observe that the occurrence of “#BDS” together with “Kashmir” started in 2010, but the frequency of tweets on  these keywords was pretty low until 2017-18, (except in 2014, an election year in India), after which we see an abrupt and exponential growth in these tweets. The number of tweets increased every year from 2017 to 2018.

We further broke down these tweets on a daily occurrence basis to see the actual frequency of tweets and how they are distributed. Below is the plot of the number of tweets on a daily-wise time axis. From the plot below, we see that the peaks resemble the exact pattern of orchestrated campaigns, where a set of influencers spearhead a campaign  boosted by a troll factory.

It is also important to note that till about 2017-2018, the majority of the talk of BDS in the context of Kashmir was regarding Kashmiri accounts supporting BDS against Israel. But from our data, we found that beginning of 2018, tweets started coming out for the BDS movement against India. The first such tweet was from a Twitter handle Zeeshan Khan (@IbnKhayyam) on Jan 21, 2018.

The handle Zeeshan Khan is actively tweeting on Kashmir since 2017, in support of StandWithKashmir (an organization affiliated with Jamaat nexus), FreeKashmir, and Praising Pak PM Imran Khan. He consistently  amplifies and shares articles and statements of Hafsa Kanjwal, associated with StandWithKashmir.

It is interesting to note that the daily peaks in the day-wise plot (shown above)  correspond to tweets of  Zeeshan  Khan which got maximum amplification, starting with the first peak of 2018 on Jan 21, which was the first tweet on the topic by anyone. It would be safe to assume that the handle @IbnKhayyam is one of the key operatives behind  BDSM against India, if not the mastermind. The data also revealed that the major tweets occurring in each year from 2018 to 2021 was corresponding to posts being some of the popular handles pushing the narrative of BDS against  India. For example, in 2018 after the tweet of Zeeshan Khan, a manufactured outrage for BDS against India was  pushed on the issue of boycotting Bollywood, as four Indian actors were performing in Israel.

SMEs of Conflict Industry – Helene Sejlert a Case Study

Another handle that has been consistently pushing the BDSM agenda for Kashmir is Bea (@HerNameIs_Bea). This account has posted the maximum number of tweets asking for BDS against India since 2018. The handle Bea belongs to Helene Sejlert, a Swedish-born human rights activist. She worked in Marketing and Sales in Sweden  from 1994 till 2014, after which she founded a marketing company called MV marketing and later ODA. Between 2016-2017, she went to Malmö University for a Master’s degree where she  was also a Youth  Coordinator. ^[219]  She  claims to be a freelance social worker since  2020, a convenient profession.

While her Twitter account was created in 2012, she has been posting only on Palestine till 2016. But since 2017 she  suddenly started talking about #FreeKashmir and #StandWithKashmir on Twitter, matching well with the timeline. It is interesting to note that tweets on BDS against India increased in 2019, many of which were by Helene Sejlert, which also corresponds with the frequency of peaks in the day-wise tweet plot in 2019.

Helene Sejlert exhibits all traits of an efficient vulture activist. Engaged in ‘marketing’, she pivoted squarely on Kashmir one fine day, without having any apparent association/ understanding of the region. Her ‘activism’ for Kashmir is so high that it overshadowed her sympathy for Palestine! This transactional ‘activism’ is the hallmark of the conflict industry, where for hire activists and marketing gurus are the ones driving the agenda, leaving the real stakeholders completely out of the equation.

Zesshan Khan & Helene Sejlert:

We collected the data of @HerNameIs_Bae and @ibnkhayyam on the “Kashmir” keyword on Twitter. The total number of tweets on Kashmir by @HerNameIs_Bae including retweets is 10967 and the total number of tweets on Kashmir by @ibnkhayyam including retweets is 10209. We analyzed the frequency of their tweets, hashtags used by them, keywords used in their tweets, and the accounts mentioned in their tweets. The below plots show the tweet timeline plot of both accounts. The tweets are sampled by no. of tweets per day. The x-axis shows the day-wise timeline and the y-axis shows the no. Of tweets per day.

The tweeting pattern of these accounts on the “Kashmir” keyword appears to be very similar.  We plotted  both  the  time-lines on the same plot to see how much they overlap.  Below is the comparative  tweet timeline  plot  of  both  accounts.

We observe that apart from two initial tweets of @HerNameIs_Bae in 2014, both the accounts became active in  Kashmir near the end of 2016.

The Year 2016 & Kashmir:  It is important to note that the year 2016 is a watershed in terms of the Kashmir conflict industry. Several fronts in the name of Kashmir and human rights etc suddenly mushroomed around the time. Likewise, several ‘foreign experts’ and ‘activists’ all suddenly started talking about Kashmir, around the same time. This time also coincides with a detailed blueprint prepared by the Pak policymakers to target Kashmir. Around the same year, funding to various shady NGOs in India, to the tune of 12K Cr, was plugged.

The tweet pattern of both these accounts follows the same pattern and matches significantly which suggests that both these accounts function in a similar manner and tweet on similar topics and there is a correlation between their  activities.

Further, we analyzed the word cloud of the words used in their tweets, which are shown below.

The tweets word cloud of these two accounts are almost identical with keywords such as India, Pakistan, Kashmir, occupied Kashmir, Indian occupied Kashmir, Kashmir Issue, free Kashmir, etc. They have also mentioned each other in their tweets as seen in the above word clouds. The hashtags and the keywords present in their tweets suggest that these accounts are influenced by Pakistan because these same hashtags and keywords are used by the Pakistani propaganda industry in Kashmir.

We also analyzed the handles that are mentioned in their tweets to understand which handles they communicate with or share their tweets with. The blow images show the word cloud of  the user  mentions in  the tweets  of the  two accounts.

Both these accounts mention many Pakistani and other Indian Origin separatist accounts as well as propaganda accounts. Some of the major accounts tagged by them are @cjwerleman, @KCPak4, @PAkistanPR_UN, @PakistanUN_NY, @QadriNasir, @ @ShehryarAfridi, @IPRI_Pak, @asafand1, @ImranKhanPTI, @AabKeshti, etc.

Pak Machinery Steps-up:

A new trend “#BoycottIndia” started in August 2019, was started by Pakistan and amplified by the Pakistani handlers.  The analysis of this trend is explained later. Having tested the experiment, in September 2019 in the OIC Annual Coordination Meeting, held in New York, the then ‘President’ of AJK, Masood Khan renewed the call to the OIC to  launch BDSM against India. ^[220] [221]

Going into 2020 the tweets on the #BDS campaign against India kept on increasing, led
by the handle @HerNameIs_Bea.

The OIC did not give much thought to Pakistan’s calling for BDSM against India, and it pivoted to new friend Turkey.  From June 29-30, 2020, Istanbul University organized an international conference on Kashmir in Istanbul, Turkey,  where Masood Khan again asked for the BDS movement against India, but this time it should be led by Turkey. A  suggestion for Kashmir Humanitarian Fund was also made at the Conference. ^[222]

A similar trend followed in 2021 as well, with more tweets on the BDS campaign against India,  comparing  the  situation in Kashmir with Palestine, and asking the Muslims worldwide to support the BDS movement against  India  and boycotting Indian Products.

Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur, a Pakistan-backed Kashmiri separatist, recently booked under Section 13 of UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) ^[223] also tweeted mentioning the official Twitter handle of @BDSmovement  and  the Indian BDS handle @BDSIndiaTweets, for the endorsement of the BDS movement against India.

Over the years, we have found a typical pattern for all manufactured campaigns. They are started by Influencers, associated with Pak establishment (and now increasingly MB). The push for these posts comes from a troll factory,  with substantial fake accounts created just for the purpose. Analyzing the #BDSM in the context of Kashmir, we  found the same pattern. The below plot shows the number of accounts created year-wise on a time axis for those  accounts that started talking about BDS against India since 2018:

The below graph is the range plot showing the total number of tweets per year and the total number of  accounts that tweeted.

As mentioned above, From the range plot we can see that the main discussion of BDSM in the context of India started in 2018. Accordingly, 124 handles were created in 2018; 143 in 2019; 235 in 2020;  and 105 in 2021.  Below is  the word cloud of the bio of the accounts which started talking BDS against India and hashtags that were used along with #BDS and Kashmir.

One related but independent #BDS campaign against India, accompanied by trends like #BoycottIndia and #BoycottIndianProducts in August 2019 was after the revocation of Article 370 on August 5. We collected 1,62,468 tweets on these two hashtags between the range of March 2006 till December 11, 2021.  Below is the plot  of tweets created on the #BoycottIndia and #BoycottIndianProducts year-wise on a time axis.

As shown, in 2019 there is a significant peak nearing about 110k tweets, though the trend falls significantly in 2020.  But we notice a gradual increase in the trend once again in 2021. We further broke down the tweet timeline plot day-wise to see the distribution and separate peaks in the data. Below is the plot of tweets created day-wise on a time axis.

As we see, the 2019 push was driven by a single-day campaign, a large outstanding peak in 2019  with the peak  being on August 28, 2019, with about 45k posts.

Propaganda across Platforms: Facebook & Twitter

We also checked for the same keywords “#BDS and Kashmir” on Facebook. We found that the first mention of a  BDS movement against India on Facebook was on August 8, 2019, by an account Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK. ^[224] The post had a poll asking if Muslims globally should do a BDS movement against India. ^[225]

Subsequently, on August 13, 2019, the Palestinian BDS national committee (BNC) released a statement on India whose title was “Solidarity and Unity in Opposing Global Militarization: BNC Statement on Kashmir.” ^[226] In its statement, BNC criticized the Indian Government for revoking article 370, opposing the militarization of Kashmir, and imposing curfews in Kashmir. They called for global pressure on the Indian Government to demilitarize Kashmir.  BNC’s statement was posted by ‘an online News site’ Mondoweiss on its website ^[227] and Facebook ^[228] on August 14, 2019. This post was shared on Facebook by 70 people.

The following development could also be an explanation for the peak on August 28, 2019, during the #BoycottIndia  and #BoycottIndianProducts campaigns. On September 19, 2019, one post ^[229] appears on FB for #BDS and boycott against India by a Palestinian/Polish account.

On October 25, 2019, another post ^[230] appears on FB by a Pakistani account on #BDS and boycott India.

After 2019, no further posts on FB could be found where #BDS and Kashmir keywords are used together. In 2021 couple of posts are posted on FB. On 16^th June 2021, a FB account posts ^[231] on FB sharing the screenshot of a post by Helen Sejlert, asking for #BDS and boycott of Bollywood.

Since the hashtag #BoycottIndia campaign was run majorly on Twitter, below are the tweet samples of the most re-tweeted tweets in the year 2019.

This trend however was almost exclusively pushed by the Pak handles. We found from the tweets collected that almost all of the accounts were Pakistanis, and these two hashtags were being amplified and pushed heavily by Pakistani handlers. Not only it was pushed by Pakistan, but it was also essentially a fabricated trend, pushed by  newly minted fake handles, which has been a consistent pattern of Pak establishment nurtured troll industry. Below is the plot of the number of accounts created year-wise on a time axis.

Again, as we observe the largest cluster is in the year 2019, suggesting many accounts were created to amplify these two hashtags. How significant push is seen from the fact that a total of 6863 accounts were created in 2019, out of which 1660 accounts were created in August 2019 alone. Below is the Pie distribution of accounts created year- wise. We see that 4232 accounts were created in 2018, 6863 in 2019, 1961 in 2020, and 1663 in 2021. Below is the bubble chart depicting the distribution of the number of accounts created year-wise:

In 2020, we again see the handle @HerNameIs_Bea actively pushing the agenda of #BoycottIndia. She is single-handedly pushing the narrative it seems, as most of the popular tweets in 2020 are by that handle alone.

Bio word-cloud of the accounts that liked the tweets of @HerNameIs_Bea is as follows:

Then in 2021, on July 13, Kashmiri businessman Mubeen Ahmed Shah, who was earlier based out of Malaysia, posted a video of Kashmiri separatist “activists” Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur, Farhan Mujahid Chak, himself, and Asif Dar and called for the BDS against India. ^[232] The video served as another precursor to the BDS campaign build- up against India.

As per his Facebook profile, Mubeen Shah moved to Istanbul in December 2021 ^[233] and is currently the Director of Kashmir House based in Turkey. ^[234]

Two months after the video posted by Mubeen Shah, the social media trend similar to #BoycottIndia picked up from September. A large number of tweets start coming ostensibly from the Arab world criticizing India and asking for #BoycottIndia and #BoycottIndianProducts. This trend has already been explained in the DisInfo Lab report “Muslim BrotherHood Arrives in India”. ^[235] We explained how this entire trend was started by Muslim Brotherhood and the Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan (QTPi) Nexus.  We also exposed the Pakistani troll farms  and Twitter groups that  were  actively pushing these trends.

One important handle that was actively promoting these hashtags was @ForumStrategic (Pakistan Strategic Forum). This handle tweeted many times asking for a boycott of Indian products. The following word cloud of the Twitter bios of the 6863 accounts created in 2019 that was involved in trending the hashtag #BoycottIndia is plotted as follows:

Keywords like Pakistan, Pakistani, Pak Army, Imran Khan, Muslim, Pakistan Zindabad, Kashmir are used most frequently in their bios, revealing that most of these accounts are Pakistani, associated with Pakistan.

Thus, we see that a #BDS campaign against India that started in 2018 involving anti- Israel and anti-India accounts and the #BoycottIndia campaign that started in 2019 merged by the backing of Pakistan and Turkey, and a joint campaign was launched in 2021 for the boycott of Indian products in 2021 in which both Muslim Brotherhood  and  Pakistan worked together for building a narrative against India.

Below is the Tweets network plot of the entire data-set collected showing the various connections between the  tweets.

The above image shows the complete network of 1,62,468 tweets, it includes all the original tweets, re-tweets,  replies, and quotes. The size of the nodes is scaled by a factor of the follower’s count of the tweet’s author. The green edges are re-tweets, orange edges are replies, blue edges are quotes.

The network is oriented in a way that the most disconnected tweet clusters will be far from the center towards the edges, while in the center are the most densely connected network. The huge distribution of a small  network of  nodes at the far edges show tweets by smaller accounts that have zero, one, or two re-tweets. Towards the inside, the second concentric layer of networks is partially dense showing tweets that have some more re-tweets or replies. Coming inside further the thick concentric layer of the tweet network is shown. These tweets are denser as they have more edges connected with other nodes. Finally, in the center, we see a huge densely connected  network of  multiple tweets. This central part consists of many original tweets, their re-tweets, quotes of those tweets, and their re-tweets, as well as replies to these tweets and quotes and their re-tweets. Thus, the central part of the network becomes highly dense and connected. The central part of the network is mostly consisted of all the most re-tweeted tweets by Pakistani handles which were amplifying the #BoycottIndia campaign.

The below collage shows some of these tweet networks by Pakistani handlers.

Based on the previous toolkit observed, the following are some of the key steps that are likely to be deployed by the MB-led nexus after their trial boycott campaign in Sept- Oct 2021 and the launch of the Tribunal in December 2021. For example, expect amazing creative pictures of children as the victim of conflict – miraculously captured  at the  right moment.

Genocide Narrative:

The Tribunal appeared confused. It wanted to show that it is a legal process and hence it is going to examine the allegations, including genocide. At the same time, they also were eager to conclude that genocide is already happening. The others claim to be clairvoyant, and hence even if they can’t prove genocide, they ‘see it happening’! Seeing the pattern so far, it is obvious that the genocide will be the final narrative before BDSM is launched full- fledged. Between now and the launch of a large-scale campaign, we can expect a few more Tribunals/ investigative reports/ and Commissions on Kashmir – all to be orchestrated by Muslim Brotherhood.

Economic Boycott:

Overall, the economic boycott is the crux of BDSM, as this could help the QTPi members, particularly Pakistan to try and capture the market with which they otherwise are not able to compete.

• The BDSM against India would select the brands which have resonance with the Indian image. Like the image of Yoga and Tea was targetted, they would try to focus on products with a cultural/ historical brand value.
• They would also target the products for which the QTPi members have alternate products to sell.
• Boycott Indian goods and products, especially targeting the products where they have
• Launch a local ‘inspection campaigns’ where ornated ‘activists’ would exabit the inspection of various Super-markets/ local markets to protest against the presence of Indian products.
• Campaign for financial institutions, banks, pension funds, etc. to divest from India.

The Conflict industry creates yet another business stream: the protests against Indian products/ supply chains could be financed by rival companies/ business enterprises, providing a cut of the profit to the conflict industry.

Likely Impact:

As noted, the economic boycott is the main objective as this will not only put pressure but could open for an ‘extortion economy’ under the conflict industry. Every industry/ business house could be pressurized to cough up money for not getting boycotted. This will also reflect in selective boycotts, where some companies would be targeted while others would be spared for no apparent reason, or on flimsy reason. Here is the impact on Israel:

• 46% drop in foreign direct investment into Israel in 2014 compared to 2013. ^[237]
• Major European companies Veolia, Orange, and CRH exited the Israeli market after the campaigns. ^[238]

Academic Boycott:

• Sign of declaration in support of the academic boycott. Launch of “academic boycott at your campus” campaign.
• Campaign against India’s involvement in international programs. Boycott/ Protest against International academic activities receiving funding from India/ Indian entities (special targets could be the various Chairs established by Govt/ Indian industries).
• Boycott of events/ speeches (including debates) at international venues by Indian officials or representatives of academic institutions not toeing the ‘boycott line’.

Likely Impact:

The impact of BDSM against Israel could provide an idea about the likely impact it might have. As an example, the University of Johannesburg cuts ties with Ben-Gurion University on April 1, 2011, following an appeal signed by 400 academics from South African universities, including nine university heads. The appeal was also supported by main trade unions in the country, including COSATU and NEHAWU. Thousands of academics in South Africa, the US, UK, India, ^[239] Sweden, Ireland, Brazil, Belgium, Italy, and elsewhere have signed statements in support. Divestment campaigns spread across North America. ^[240] National and local student unions in South Africa, ^[241] Chile, and Qatar have endorsed the BDS movement. The University of Hampshire has divested six companies.^[242]

Cultural Boycott:

• Refusal by some celebrity artists to perform in India (at times despite no apparent plan to perform). Refrain from participating in cultural events in India or India- funded activities around the world.

• Campaign around themes such as “Let your favourite artists know” or “write a mail/ social media post” about the cultural boycott. The templates would be made readily available.
• Mobilize appeals to convince your local cultural venue to not accept the Indian government of lobby funding or host events sponsored by India, its lobby, or complicit institutions.
• Events and activities sponsored by India or a ‘complicit institution’, whose complicity will be determined solely by the BDSM entrepreneurs.

Likely Impact:

In 2015, more than a thousand cultural figures in the UK signed a cultural boycott pledge. ^[243] BDS-related initiatives have been launched in Montreal (Canada), Ireland, South Africa, Switzerland, Lebanon, the US, among others. Distinguished cultural figures who have endorsed the cultural boycott of Israel include Chuck D, Roger Waters, Talib Kweli, John Berger, Arundhati Roy, Iain Banks, Judith Butler, Naomi Klein, Ken Loach, Angela Davis, Mira Nair, Mike Leigh, and many others. Top artists including Elvis Costello, Gil Scott-Heron, Lauryn Hill, Faithless, Marianah, U2, Bjork, Jean-Luc Godard, Snoop Dogg, Cat Power, and Vanessa Paradis have cancelled performances in Israel. In 2014, the prestigious São Paulo Biennial festival ended an Israeli sponsorship deal following calls to do so by a vast majority of the participating artists. ^[244]

Trade Union Solidarity:

These campaigns are most likely to be held in foreign countries, especially where the MB nexus holds influence, including in parts of Europe and the US. The campaign would likely hover around:

• ‘Get your national union to join the BDS movement’ campaign and ‘Pass a BDS resolution’ campaign through local union branches. Only a handful of amenable members could be used for the hype.
• Asking unions to boycotts Indian products and products from ‘complicit’ companies.
• Campaigns for the company through the union to divest from India/ Indian companies.

Likely Impact:

Trade unions across the world backed BDS, including COSATU in South Africa, CUT in Brazil, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the UK Trade Union Congress, Belgian federation ABVV/FGTB, French unions CNT and CGT Educ’Action, the LO federation in Norway, the Canadian Postal Workers Union, etc. Dockworkers in Durban responded to Israel’s 2008-09 attack on Gaza by refusing to unload Israeli products.^[245]

As per one of the members of the Indian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (InACBI) Achin Vanaik (retired Professor, Delhi University & Member of Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace), ^[246] [247] among the three areas of focus of InACBI, ^[248] the India-Palestine Peoples Solidarity Forum is controlled by Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI). The role of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) is to provide funding and mass following. The mass can be then mobilized to march on the streets when it is needed. As noted, MB has also been building its organizational bases in India. These fronts therefore would be the key to mobilizing not only ground protest but also to creating theaters needed for various campaigns.

However, the crux of BDSM lies in media hype. Unless there is sufficient propaganda around the theme, the money flow would not start. And while MB has over the years build up a vast network, they would still need to reach out to the audience in India. To this end, they would need a segment of Indian media, willing to collude. It would be naïve to think that MB has not created a significant fifth column in India. Some of their torchbearers have already been identified/ noted in several publications. However, their OGWs are keeping a low profile, knowing the implications of identifying with MB in India. To hype the MB-sponsored narratives of fascism and genocide, they would start having debates. Some of them might even try and appear to push back ‘on behalf of India’, while essentially pushing the narrative. Their main instrument would be fear.

So how would they collaborate?

What would happen if one were to go inside a movie theater and scream “the theater is not on fire”?! It will still cause panic. When the theater is NOT on fire, why would you rake up this? Unless you wish to create fire.

This is how domestic collusion would work.

The Indian colluders can’t espouse openly a call for BDS against India, being afraid of possible consequences. Their job would primarily be to amplify the BDSM’s narrative of genocide within India to create a fear psychosis. Their role would be to amplify the potential damage to India through BDSM while appearing to be anguished by the prospect. Expect a series of articles on how this campaign hurting India economically

– again without any data or references. In this, they would get ‘inspirations’ from the designated platforms – Al Jazeera and TRT World and their ilk – but also possibly some of the ‘global media’. One hallmark would remain, they would all be independent of any data or reference. Parallelly, some of the colluders would also hyperventilate on Twitter about the same, expressing distress on behalf of India – but in effect amplifying the narrative, which otherwise would have no impact. Some of them might also get rewarded with a five-star conference to hyperventilate in a foreign country!

Some have already started.

It is important to highlight that this report is not a judgment or analysis of the situation in Palestine nor any commentary on the conflicts per se. It is an attempt to unmask the growing community of vulture activists who benefit from the continuation of the conflict and hence have a vested interest that these conflicts do not get resolved. The report is also an attempt to show to the people who are suffering from these conflicts the true faces of their ‘benefactors’.

To perpetuate their holding, these players of the industry hijack the voices of the people in the actual conflict and claim to speak on their behalf from the comforts of the developed world. Over some time, the narrative of the conflict gets so distorted that it goes beyond the comprehension of real stakeholders who find themselves increasingly marginalized – except for their photographs of sufferings. They increasingly become a prop in the larger narrative war being waged on their behalf without their participation.

This report is therefore an attempt to bring back the stakeholders into the narrative.

It is also incumbent upon societies to awaken about the phenomenon. This conflict industry-generated narrative war is creating an economy of parasites who would need one conflict or another to prolong their longevity. If not exposed and countered, this menace is capable of generating ever-increasing fault-lines and creating newer victim groups who will keep the society in perpetual turmoil while the vultures would feast in the five-stars and hyperventilate on Twitter.

BDS Movement on Palestine:

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement (BDSM) is billed as a pro-Palestine movement formed on July 9, 2005. ^[249] The official website of the BDSM (bdsmovement.net) was registered on November 28, 2006. ^[250] It was to enact boycott initiatives to mobilize and mount economic and political pressure on Israel and get it sanctioned to ensure human rights in Palestine.

Founders:

Omar Barghouti:

The co-founder of BDSM was Omar Barghouti, who was born in Qatar and then moved to Egypt and subsequently to the US in 1982 to pursue a Master’s degree in Electrical engineering from Columbia University. He settled in Israel and acquired its residency status in 1993. ^[251] He is a recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize (in 2017). In the same year, he was arrested by the Israeli Tax authorities for disguising about $700,000 income in his Income tax filing. ^[252] Barghouti also founded another such organization Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). ^[253]

Ramy Shaath:

Another co-founder of BDS moment Ramy Shaath is the son of Nabil Shaath, an advisor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He was arrested in July 2019 by the Egyptian Police on the suspection of having links to the Muslim Brotherhood, designated as terror group and banned in Egypt in 2013.

He was released on January 8, 2022 after denouncing Egyptian Citizenship. Shaath’s French wife Celine Lebrun Shaath, who was deported from Egypt following his arrest, had lobbied the French government to pressure Egypt to release him. ^[254]

Ramy was accused of participating in operations against Egyptian security bodies in Sinai through providing finance and logistic support for the terrorists active against the Egyptian army troops in Sinai Peninsula, he was also charged with inciting chaos after the dispersal of Rabaa and El Nahda unlawful sit-ins back in 2013. ^[255]

Ramy Shaath’s wife Celine Lebrun Shaath is French and she led an international campaign from home country for his release from Egypt’s Tora Prison. Celine was deported from Egypt at the time of her husband’s arrest. She holds an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, 2017. ^[256]

Modus operandi

The activities of the BDS movement includes campaigning with the BDS activists, briefing and lobbying policymakers, Media outreach through planned media strategy, developing such campaigns in the Arab countries, training activists, holding workshops and conferences worldwide, and acting through BDS calls against projects and initiatives which amount to recognition of or cooperation with Israel’s regime. ^[257] The cultural boycott of Israel has been an integral part of the BDS movement and since its advent, it has caused economical damage to Israel by branding it as a human-rights violating and apartheid state.

The movement engages hundreds of NGOs/ civil society groups directly or indirectly for the movement across the globe. However, some of the NGOs are core of this movement including The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), Palestinian Non-Governmental Organization Network (PNGO), Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), PCHR-Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Defense for Children International

– Palestine (DCI-P), American Muslims for Palestine, Al-Haq, Adameer, Al-Mezan, and Samidoum among others. Several global human rights organizations have also been either participating or supporting this cause including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Endowment for Democracy, and so forth. Several European governments have also supported the boycott call in one or another including European Union, Norway, Belgium, and so forth. The movement has found wide support in many parts of the world and has been organizing major events globally for last more than a decade.

As is expected, a movement of this scale requires a substantial amount of money. As per publicly available information, the BDSM runs its campaign based on funding and donations from various governments, institutions, companies, organizations, and the public at large. The major way of receiving funding is through various partners NGOs of the BDSM, most of which collect funds individually and run events either individually or in collaboration.

The target for the boycott has been the Israeli govt, private companies, Israeli institutions, and even cultural and individuals. The campaigners have particularly targeted Israeli financial interests, including Israeli firms as well as investment/ trade with Israel.

There however appears to be no documentation of the overall running of the campaign and its impact. The organizations involved do not provide specifics about the individual objectives of various campaigns and outcomes. Nor are there many details about the expenditures. Most of the organizations/ NGOs mostly show a broad outlay but do not provide details of the various heads under which the money has been spent nor is there the list of recipients. Therefore, to get the broader picture of financial transactions, we had to assess the individual NGOs/ funding sources and calculate the overall amount. This is not the most accurate method, but these calculations are on the conservative side, meaning the amount received and spent had to be much larger than this. Likewise, it was difficult to make the impact assessment of these initiatives, except for the claims made by various parties to BDSM. Even in their cases, the participating organizations did not provide any specific objective of their endeavor, leaving aside an impact assessment.

It is rather peculiar that NGOs and civil society groups engaged in human rights protection would be so opaque about their financial transaction without accountability or audit. It is even more peculiar when the entities involved range from sovereign states to global human rights organizations to smaller civil society groups to private companies and individuals spread across the world.

In a way, BDSM has become a conflict industry.

Apart from the major NGOs/ groups mentioned above, there are thousands of fund collections in the name of Palestine all over the world. There are on average hundreds of fundraisings being run on each of the online fund-raising platforms – from Go Fund Me to Launch Good. In addition, thousands of online fund collection ads are being run in the name of Palestine on social media platforms including on Facebook and Instagram, almost like a cottage industry in parallel to the industrial scale fund collection by the major organizations.

Terrorists like BDSM:

As has been explained in a series of reports by DisInfo Lab, the radical Islamists not only siphon off money in the name of various causes – from Rohingya to Uyghur to Palestine to Covid – but given their association with terror groups, the probability of at least part of funding going to terror financing is high. Almost all these ‘humanitarian’ organizations have been found to have direct and deep linkages with terror groups. In the case of Jamaat-e-Islami nexus, it mostly goes to Pak-based terror groups; whereas, in the case of Muslim Brotherhood, it appears to be connecting to Hamas and similar other formations.

The list of organizations and umbrella networks that have been collecting fund- collecting funds in the name of BDSM have one more thing in common – they are all connected with the Muslim Brotherhood/ Hamas and The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

• The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is a designated terrorist organization in Israel ^[258], the USA ^[259], the European Union ^[260], and Canada. ^[261]

• Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by Israel, ^[262] the United States,^[263] Canada, ^[264] and the European Union ^[265]. Hamas defines itself (based on its charter, published in August 1988) as the “Palestinian off-shoot” of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. ^[266] It was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and other Palestinian Islamist operatives in Gaza in December 1987.

Financing of terror-linked NGOs:

These terror-linked NGOs receive a large number of funds from European Commissions in the name of human rights and Palestine. The European Commission’s International Cooperation and Development (ICD) records reveal that it awarded grants to various HAMAS and PFLP linked NGOs based on their proposal for the project, “EuropeAid/154-602/DD/ACT/PS.” ^[267]

BDS Organizations with Hamas-PFLP Ties:

SNo.	Organization/NGO	Hamas/PFLP links
1	The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)	Its constituent organization, Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine (PNIF), constitutes of 12 factions including the designated terrorist organizations PFLP,Hamas, and Islamic Jihad. [268]
2	Palestinian Non-Governmental Organization Network (PNGO)	PNGO inclines with senior leaders (Late Dr. Rabah Muhana) of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).[269] [270] PNGO condemned the British government’s move to designate Hamas  as a terrorist organization in November 2021.[271]
3	Al-Haq	Led by Shawan Jabarin, a former senior operative of the PFLP, who has served several prison  sentences due to his terroristactivity.
4	Addameer	Formed by the members of PFLP convicted of terror activities. Several of its members including its chairperson Abdullatif Ghaith was banned for traveling for having tieswith PFLP.
5	PCHR-Palestinian Centre for Human Rights	Its members including Anwar Matar (Administrative officer) was arrested forhaving ties with PFLP.[272] One of PCHR’s current administrative members, Jaber Wishah once held charge  of the  military apparatus of PFLP  and was sentenced to prison between 1985-99. [273]

6	Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC)	Led by Omar Mofeed Mokhallalati, son of former Hamas senior leader Dr. Mufid Al- Mokhalalati.PSC also maintains a cordial relationship with the senior Hamas activist Muhammad Kazem Rashid Maruf Sawalha,  who played a  role in  the  establishment of Hamasheadquarters in West Bank.
7	Al-Mezan	Maintains ties with senior Hamas official Taher Al-Nunu and former leader of PFLP Gaza, Rabah Muhanna.[274] Organized a conference in 2015 on the  International Criminal Court (ICC)[275] featuring speakers from terrorist groups  including senior Hamas official Khalil Al- Hayya  and  Islamic Jihad  political  bureaumember Khaled Al-Batash.
8	Samidoum	It was one of the participants of the “Great March of Return” organized  by Hamas  and promoted widely by the MuslimBrotherhood.[276]
9	Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI- P)	Nassar Ibrahim, former President of DCI- P’s General Assembly  was the  Editor  of El Hadaf, PFLP’s weekly publication.[277] Former board member of DCI-P (between2014-18), Mary Rock ran for  elections  as a candidate of PFLP in 2016.[278]