Indian Movie Baby-Propaganda against Pakistan

NOVANEWS

By Sajjad Shaukat
As part of psychological warfare, besides supporting subversive acts in Pakistan, India has
already started cultural penetration in Pakistan through movies, dramas, shows and
advertisements which are being displayed on our TV channels.
In this regard, Baby is a propaganda movie recently released by Bollywood to directly target
Pakistan. It is focusing on operation Baby which was supposedly conceived by the Indian secret
agency, RAW as a test case, launched by a group of five trained and dedicated RAW operatives
to apprehend head of Pakistan’s banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)/Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD)
through a sting individuals.
In fact, the movie was sponsored and produced by Indian Ministry of Interior and Ministry of
Defence. The project was undertaken by Santosh Astana (Media Incharge/Director Indian
Affairs, Public Relations), while three Pakistani actors are also included in the cast. The theme of
the film tries to propagate that Pakistan-based LeT/JuD is responsible for orchestrating Mumbai
attacks in September 2008, financed and facilitated by Pakistan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates
(UAE) and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
But, the movie, Baby revolves around the activities of LeT in the backdrop of Mumbai attacks,
2008. This is a sequel to the perennial propaganda campaign conceived by Indian authorities to
malign the image of Pakistan and its primary intelligence agency ISI.
In this respect, after Mumbai attacks, Indians had resorted to electronic media campaign,
followed by TV channels and written articles, focusing on the activities of Jihad organizations,
allegedly sponsored by LeT/JuD.
In order to spread disinformation, New Delhi arranged a series of articles (about 140) which
were also published in the US and other international media in which LeT/JuD has been
portrayed as a terrorist origination much larger than Al Qaeda with global reach, having affiliates
and sleeper cells all over the world.
In this connection, Indian point of view was further augmented by Arif Jamal (Pakistani born UK
national) in his book “Call for Transnational Jihad: Lashkar-e-Taiba 1985-2014”.
Using the pretext of Mumbai terror-attacks, reportedly, on December 14, 2008, as a retaliatory
action, India violated Pakistan’s air space in Kashmir and Lahore in a failed attempt to attack
LeT/JuD offices in Azad Jammu Kashmir including Muridke.
And, in May 2009, RAW made an attempt to kill Hafiz Muhammad Saeed when he came to
attend the Lahore High Court (LHC) hearing, but the attempt could not materialize.
As a matter of fact, the purpose of deliberate propaganda campaign through Indian print and
electronic media—launched by Indian agencies was to induce public perception against Pakistan
in order to favour Indian false stance at global level.
It is of particular attention that on July 19, 2013, the Indian former home ministry and ex-
investigating officer Satish Verma revealed that terror-attacks in Mumbai in November 26, 2008
and assault on Indian Parliament in January 12, 2001 were carried out by the Indian government
to strengthen anti-terrorism laws. But, Indian top officials and media are still blaming Islamabad
and LeT for those attacks.
Similarly, on January 20, 2013, Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Home
minister Sushil Kumar Shinde confessed the nexus between BJP and the RSS, disclosing that
organized training camps run by these Indian fundamentalist parties were promoting Hindu
terrorism. They also revealed that these parties were behind the Samjhauta Express, Meccca
Masjid and Malegaon blasts including Gujarat and Babri Masjid incidents. Earlier, New Delhi
was accusing Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI for blasts in Malegaon and other cities.
However, it is perceived that the movie Baby has been conceived and launched also to weigh and
see the public reaction regarding Indian agenda, before conducting some major sting/hot pursuit
operations against Pakistan.
As regards the film, three Pakistani film stars were also included in the cast i.e Rasheed Naz as
head of Lashkar, Meekal Zulifqar as a RAW conduit and Hasan Noman as a Police Chief of
While, Pakistani film actor Hamza Ali Abbasi said that he was offered a role in the Indian film
Baby last year which he did not accept due to the movie’s anti-Pakistan slant. He elaborated that
he was in favour of Pakistani artists, working in Indian films in general, but not in a film that
even has anti-Pakistan themes. He added, “Please think like a Pakistani first and then an artist”.
Nevertheless, Akshay Kumar starrer Baby movie has been banned by the censor boards of
Pakistan, because it portrays a negative image of Muslims and the negative characters in the
film—also has Muslim names. CDs and DVDs of the film have also been banned.
Fakhr-e-Alam who is the Chairman of the Censor Board took to Twitter to share his views about
the board’s decision, stating, “The movie has been banned in Pakistan, as it shows Muslim
community in a bad light. The characters used in the movie also represent Muslim community.
He added, “A poor propaganda film basically saying all Muslims are terrorists & Pakistan
harbors them…disappointed, Ban it”.
Besides, Indian contradictory approach in this regard is also mentionable. In an article, director
of the movie Neeraj Panday claimed that the movie does not hurt Muslim sentiments, nor it has
been made on any specific nation. But the producer Bhushan Kumar was still wondering why,
actor Anupam Kher emphasised the need to move beyond borders and look at the universal
problem of terrorism. He said, “The film is about anti-terrorism. Sometimes it is important to go
beyond territories and understand who is the enemy—is it a country or a bunch of people?”
Nonetheless, the movie Baby which largely focuses on terrorism issues is part of Indian
continued propaganda against Pakistan so as to distort the image of the latter and ISI in the
Therefore Pakistan’s media must counter Indian propaganda, unleashed against Pakistan in the
Indian movie Baby.