House IT panel likely to take up Pegasus issue

IN 2019, THE PANEL ISSUED SIMILAR NOTICES TO MINISTRIES AFTER WHATSAPP REPORTED BEING VULNERABLE TO SPYWARE ATTACK

A parliamentary committee on information technology chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is likely to take up on July 28 the alleged illegal surveillance mounted on journalists, activists, opposition leaders, etc, using Israeli militarygrade spyware Pegasus, a person familiar with the matter said.

The panel, going by the notification HT has accessed, will hear what the ministry of electronics and information technology, ministry of home affairs and the department of telecommunications have to say on this.

“GOI has denied resorting to unauthorised surveillance. The question this raises is, if #Pegasus is only sold to governments, which other govts (China/pak?) are using it to snoop on prominent Indian citizens? Shouldn’t the authorities call for an independent investigation,” Tharoor had tweeted on July 18.

This is not the first time that the panel has taken up the issue

NEW DELHI:

of the Israeli spyware. In 2019, after Whatsapp had reported being vulnerable to the spyware attack, the panel had called these same ministries to explain their stand.at the time, the issue required an unusual vote to take up the matter as BJP members resisted the suggestion -- a vote by Tharoor finally broke a tie.

“It’s been proved that phones examined in India had invasion of Pegasus. Since this product is only sold to vetted govts, question arises which government? If GOI says they haven’t done it... then it’s a more serious national security concern,” ANI quoted Tharoor as saying on Tuesday.