Coming clear

While commenting on the numerous petitions seeking an independent probe into the Pegasus snooping scandal, the SC stated on Monday that it cannot compel a 'reluctant' Centre to file a detailed affidavit to the many petitions. The Centre, sticking to its previous position, denied all allegations of snooping as falsehood and informed the SC that an independent group of experts would be examining all such claims made in regards to the Pegasus scandal. The government did, however, claim that divulging all the information sought by petitioners would involve aspects of national security. In response, the SC on Tuesday stated that it did not want the government to divulge anything that could compromise national security. At the same time, the bench sought the Centre's response on the multiple pleas that have been filed regarding the matter and stated that it would take up the matter again in another 10 days. At a previous hearing, the SC had noted the allegations laid out by the pleas as "serious" but also questioned why an FIR had not been filed to date if there was evidence that phones had been hacked. At this stage, though the Centre has expressed confidence that it has 'nothing to hide' from any probe, members of the opposition have stated their dissatisfaction with the overall tone of the response by the government to the allegations. One of the main points being brought up is that the government has, to date, not directly stated whether the government or its agencies have used the Pegasus spyware. The opposition has also expressed doubts over this new move to set up a probe, claiming that the government should not set up a committee of its own in the spirit of being impartial. At this point, there are no expectations for the Pegasus probe in India to go forward in a mutual and non-partisan way. As such, India look likely to continue being one of the outliers at a time when nations have either called for probes into the Pegasus scandal or have already set up their probes. Israel, the source of the spyware in question, was among the first to set up a probe into whether the NSO-made Pegasus spyware was misused in any way. A military-led probe has been established in Israel with a particular focus on the licensing process to identify if the product has been sold to 'irresponsible bodies'. A far more serious probe is that of France which was the first country to announce a formal probe into the matter when it emerged that several French numbers, including French President Emmanuel Macron, were found on the list of prospective targets. More importantly, France was also the first country to independently verify the findings of the Pegasus Project. French intelligence investigators recently confirmed that evidence of Pegasus use had been found on the phones of three French journalists, including a senior member of the state-run France24. It is hard to overstate just how significant the French probe has been to the overall credibility of Project Pegasus. While numbers have previously been confirmed to be targets of Pegasus, this is the first time that confirmation has been done by government intelligence. In many ways, this undermines some of the key arguments made by the Indian government regarding the authenticity of the list of potential targets and the methods being used to confirm whether the phone has been hacked. To add to the weight of the scandal, it has also been recently reported that the US itself may be interested in a probe though no US numbers have been confirmed as part of the list of prospective targets. Several US lawmakers have not only pushed for new legislation and investigations into potential spyware misuse but are also pressuring Israel on the probe. With these new developments, it becomes clear that the scandal caused by Project Pegasus is nowhere near done yet. With the US, France and several other countries now calling for accountability, Israel will also have to be show seriousness in its intent to investigate and possibly even punish the actions of the NSO group. At the same time, this will also mean that any further inaction by the Indian government will appear quite prominent as the tactic of outright refusing to engage with the allegations seems to have run its course. As one of the countries being accused of using the Pegasus spyware, many observers say that the Indian government will inevitably need to come clear on whether it purchased and used the spyware if things are to truly progress in any potential Indian probe.