Cong MP gives adjournment motion notice in LS on 'Pegasus Project' report
Jul 20, 2021
New Delhi [India], July 20 : Congress MP Manickam Tagore has given an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha on the 'Pegasus Project' media report issue on Tuesday.
"I hereby give notice of my intention to ask for leave to move a motion for the adjournment of the business of the house for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent importance, namely-to discuss the involvement of the Government agencies in unlawful snooping of individuals including Election commissioners, Supreme Court Judges, Opposition leaders and journalists through Israeli Spyware Pegasus and to direct the government to take appropriate action," wrote Tagore to the Lok Sabha Secretary-General.
This comes after The Wire reported that phone numbers of Indian Journalists appeared on the leaked list of potential targets for surveillance by an unidentified agency using Pegasus spyware.
The spyware 'Pegasus' is developed by Israel-based NSO Group. The company specialises in hacking devices and caters to various governments of the world for spying purposes.
Forensic tests have also confirmed that the phones of some of these journalists were successfully infected with the Pegasus malware, the report said.
According to the report, the journalists who were targeted work for some news organisations in the country including Hindustan Times, The Hindu, India Today, Indian Express and Network18. Many of them cover matters related to Defence, Home Ministry, Election Commission and Kashmir among others.
