Dalai Lama: Associates Possibly in the List of Pegasus Spying

The Pegasus case is catching the hype like a wildfire, especially in the Indian subcontinent.The leaked database included the contact information of several Buddhist priests as well as Tibetan leaders and activists close to the 14th Dalai Lama himself, who had been tagged for monitoring from late 2017 to mid 2019.

The Dalai Lama’s closest aides were spotted on a list of possible spying targets with the Israeli spying software Pegasus, which is exclusively supplied to governments, according to news website The Wire.

However, the presence of their contact information does not necessarily imply that their privacy has been compromised by Pegasus, as this can only be determined by forensic examination of the device, according to the report.

The Pegasus controversy has been termed as humongous by the opposition and vigorously rejected by the union government. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, political analyst Prashant Kishor, some Union Ministers, and numerous journalists were spotted on the target list earlier this week.

The first indications of spying on people close to the Dalai Lama relate to the associates of the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Urgyen Trinley Dorji, the third highest-ranking priest in Tibetan Buddhism, who had been staying outside India since early 2017. Karmapa, who came to India as a teenager in 2000, has had a strained relationship with Indian intelligence; according to the news website, he received a Dominican passport in March 2018, which India was unaware of.

The list also includes Tempa Tsering, the Dalai Lama’s long-term representative in New Delhi who is at present the director, India and East Asia, Office of His Highness the Dalai Lama in New Delhi.

The Dalai Lama had visited New Delhi to see former US President Barack Obama, during this period these phones were picked for monitoring. By that time India’s relationship with China was only beginning to improve after the Doklam incident.

“Chimmey Rigzen and Tenzin Taklha, profound assistants of the trust, are also listed in the database. In mid-2018, Samdhong Rinpoche, the leader of the trust that will supervise the delicate work of appointing the next Dalai Lama, was also added to the list “According to The Wire.

The data also include the contact information of Lobsang Sangay, the chairman of the Tibetan government in exile at the time, and numerous other Tibetan dissidents in India, it added.

The study claims that Pegasus was used in attempted or successful cellphone intrusions via software that allows for the collection of messages, recording of calls, and discreetly activating microphones. The Wire is one of 17 media outlets to publish the report.

The accusations were dismissed as “full of erroneous assumptions and unverified theories” by the creator of the spyware NSO, which has stated that it only offers its spyware to “vetted governments.” This news report is not independently confirmed by Vrikah.com.