“Pegasus has got its wings on Fire, Keep away from him, Because When you play with fire, it harms you.” Inno
Literally, Pegasus has set India on fire. Ever since news of the spyware infiltrating millions of smart phones in over a dozen countries including India surfaced, the specter of surreptitious surveillance has sparked a vicious verbal war between the ruling establishments and their adversaries. Private information of presidents, prime ministers has been burgled in an underhand manner. Irony died when it was proved that the secret Israeli bugware was used by Arab monarchs to monitor their own people.
In India, Pegasus made headlines because the names of the surveilled included important BJP functionaries, among whom is a newly inducted Union Minister who was forced to defend Big Brother’s clandestine curiosity with a straight face in Parliament. As usual, the government went into denial mode as the Opposition bayed for blood and the cacophony’s contours acquired the s
The Indian Express, December 12, 1980, forty years ago
Slurring over possible divergences on Afghanistan, India and the Soviet Union today came out with a joint declaration voicing their opposition to all forms of outside interference in the internal affairs of the countries in South West Asia. The declaration issued at the end of President Leonid Brezhnev’s visit to India does not mention Afghanistan but stresses that a negotiated political settlement alone can bring peace to the region. The document stresses on friendship between the two countries and suggests areas of cooperation between the two countries on international affairs including making the Indian Ocean a zone of peace.