Thread by @DisinfoLab

Sociologist Salvatore Babones, while exposing some western ‘Rating Tanks’ anti-India reports, still absolved them of mala fide intention. One of them is Swedish V-Dem.

TRUTH?

V-Dem’s intentions are also sinister.

A thread:

But first methodology:

85%V-Dem’s annual ‘Democracy Reports’ is based on ‘inputs ‘from expert’s aka intellectuals.

V-Dem doesn’t provide the number or list of the experts, nor criteria about how are they selected.

But methodology is lesser of their sins.

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Let’s have a look at some of the eminent people from V-Dem’, who coincidentally, happens to be associated with Pakistan, including Pak Army.

Note: Conveniently, this page has been removed. But alas, archives!

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The Country Coordinator from Pakistan, Noor Sitara has extensive political linkages and has worked with several Pakistani think tanks & institutions—Foreign Services Academy & Information Services Academy; run by the Pak Foreign Ministry.

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Another luminary on V-Dem’s advisory board is Pakistani politician and lawyer Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan. He was President of Pakistan’s Supreme Court Bar Association, and served as Minister of Interior & Law, and Justice under Benazir Bhutto’s regime.

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Third key member of V-Dem is its Regional Research Consultant from South Central Asia, Asma Shakir Khawaja. She is the assistant professor at the Pak Army-affiliated National Defence University (NDU). She also enjoys her contacts with top brass Pak army & Govt. officials.

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Asma is also the Exec. Director of the think-tank Centre for International Strategic Studies (CISS) based in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), run by retired Pak Diplomats including Fmr. Foreign Sec., Riaz Md. Khan, Pak’s permanent representative at the UN, Maleeha Lodhi.

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Fun Fact: Asma Khawaja is associated with V-Dem, and later writes an article in Pak media by using the V-Dem report as basis to target and calling India as electoral autocracy.

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Addendum: CISS’ research assistant Syed Ali Abbas is one of the admins of Pak army-backed Pakistan Strategic Forum (PSF). PSF’s Arabic division amplified the #BoycottIndianProducts campaign concocted by MB & Turkey-Qatar-Pakistan (QTPi) nexus.

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The 𝘎𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘚𝘢𝘩𝘪𝘣𝘴 of V-Dem also appear to be rather cozy with Pak establishment. In 2019, V-Dem’s Director Staffan I Lindberg promoted Asma’a book “Shaking Hands with Clenched Fists” which promotes Pak narrative on Kashmir against India.

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Lindberg also visited National Defense University (NDU), Pakistan, to attend a seminar and share his research findings. Asma Khawaja was present at the event. Coincidentally, India’s rankings in V-Dem’s reports starts to decline from 2019.

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In Oct'22, Asma attended a lecture seminar on "Pak-India Relations & Kashmir Dispute" with Altaf Wani & Dr. Raza Muhammad of Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Jamaat backed thinktank to study Indian fault lines, institutionalized in the 2016 Pak Senate report.

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Altaf Wani was one of the guests at Russell Tribunal on Kashmir(RToK) held in Bosnia(Dec 21 ) as precursor to a larger plot-Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions(BDS) Movement against India.

As noted in our Jan Report, BDSM(pun-unintended) is the ultimate target against India.

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Isn’t it ironical that it took a still a ‘foreign expert’ to expose these flaws, but the ‘intellectuals’ who are so concerned about India & devoted so much ink to lamenting, did not bother to check basics.

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The report is exposed- but in the records of History, India is permanently dented.

None of the ‘truth to power’ media have clarified/ edited their news.

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Other ‘rating tanks’ are no better. Watch this space!

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