India to give proof of Pak elements' involvement

Orders blocking of over 250 websites on which morphed images & videos were uploaded

India today said it would share with Pakistan evidence of involvement of elements in that country in whipping up communal sentiments in India, even as a technical probe concluded that many doctored images were uploaded on social media networking sites.

The Indian government, meanwhile, stepped up its drive against “erring” portals, and ordered blocking of more than 250 websites in which morphed images and videos were uploaded leading to a scare and exodus of people of the northeast from Karnataka and other states.

Pakistan on its part rejected as “baseless and unfounded” India's assertion on the involvement of elements in that country in posting morphed images on the internet in a bid to fan communal tensions in India, and asked New Delhi to provide evidence in this regard.

 

Home Secretary R K Singh said Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde during his conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik yesterday, conveyed that New Delhi would share with Islamabad all evidence related to involvement of certain groups and individuals who uploaded morphed images and videos.

Home ministry officials said more than 130 websites have been blocked till now while some others will be blocked shortly. Singh said a technical investigation had come to the conclusion that many provocative images were uploaded in these websites in Pakistan. Malik had said yesterday that New Delhi had not yet shared any evidence that suggested involvement of Pakistani elements in the cyber attack and sought this information.

Asked about these elements having any link with Pakistani spy agency ISI, Singh said it was difficult to say this at this stage, but a probe was on.

Meanwhile, Social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube have informed the government that inflammatory contents uploaded on their pages originated from Pakistan. “The initial response from international social networking sites indicates that such contents have been hosted from outside the country and to a large extent from a neighbouring country (Pakistan)," Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEIT) said in a statement.