Islamabad: In a revelation of sorts, it has come to light that Turkey secretly helped Pakistan set up cyber-army against India. The deal was carried out under a bilateral agreement that was directed to attack the US and India, Nordic Monitor reported. The operation was also carried out to influence the views of Muslims in Southeast Asia, the report said.
According to the report, cited by news agency ANI, the plan was given a go-ahead by former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan who was also the interior minister in his government. The deal to set up cyber army to counter India was set up during Imran Khan’s meeting with Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu in 2018.
According to the Nordic Monitor, the matter was discussed at the highest levels between Pakistan and Turkey governments and was kept a top secret from most of the staff at Islamabad’s Interior Ministry. “Unlike his predecessors, Soylu has gained notoriety in running troll and bot armies in cyberspace on behalf of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and had worked on similar covert operations even before he became interior minister in September 2016,” the publication said.
Turkish Minister controller troll army of 6000
Soylu secretly set up a Twitter team to insult and target prominent social and political figures who did not align with Erdogan’s ruling party. According to a parliamentary record, he controlled a 6000-strong troll army at one point. The cyber unit teams under his command hacked opponents’ emails and social media accounts and accessed and collected private data from cell phones to blackmail.
