A day after Opposition leaders received alerts from Apple Inc. about attempted security breach of their devices, Opposition members on Wednesday tried to corner the government by demanding a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology.
Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram said the finger of suspicion points to a government agency, while Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, in a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, claimed “illegal surveillance by the government using software available only to state actors”.
“....the worst attack on the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of our great democracy,” she said in her letter and sought protection from Mr. Birla as the guradian of the Lok Sabha.
“This threat is doubly shocking in light of the Pegasus software (sold only to governments) that was used to compromise the devices of various members of the Opposition, dissenting journalists, and members of civil society during 2019-2021,” Ms. Moitra added, pointing out there was no discussion on the subject in Parliament.
“It is undeniable that hundreds of Opposition leaders got an alert from Apple of a state-sponsored attempt to compromise their phones. Why only Opposition leaders? Who will be interested in compromising the phones of Opposition leaders,” asked Mr. Chidambaram, the former Union Minister who was also in-charge of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“After the Pegasus mystery (not resolved until this date), the finger of suspicion points to a government agency. At the moment it is only a suspicion,” the senior Congress leader said.
Congress MP Karti Chidmabaram and Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s Rajya Sabha member John Brittas wrote to Prataprao Jadhav, the chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for IT, to hold a meeting of the panel over the matter. Mr. Karti, a panel member, urged him to call all persons who have got the alerts from Apple as also representatives of the firm for the meeting, a source said.
Mr. Brittas too urged Mr. Jadhav to convene an urgent meeting of the panel to “examine” the recent threat notification messages, added the source.
