ENEMIES of Pakistan are blatantly using propaganda tools to create wedge between the masses and the state institutions.
An insightful study by the Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research (CSSPR) at the University of Lahore has exposed an Afghan magazine Al-Mirsad as propaganda platform controlled by Taliban’s covert arms involved in targeting the Pakistan.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has noted that Al-Mirsad is funded and run by the media wing of GDI, linked to key figures of Taliban ruling regime. Magazine constructs a false ideological binary, portraying Pakistan as anti-Islamic and illegitimate state while portraying the Taliban as defenders of faith. Platform repeatedly distorts Islamic concepts to justify terrorism, depicts militant violence as religious duty, and demonizes CT efforts of Pakistan.
Shrouding the cross-border terrorism inside Pakistan and the linkages of Afghan Taliban with the banned TTP is the most objectionable trait of this dubious platform. Platform uses a multi-layered digital strategy across Telegram, X (formerly Twitter), WhatsApp, and YouTube, employing AI-driven amplification for narrative saturation in languages including English, Urdu, Pashto, Dari, Arabic, and Hindi. Most of the content relies on fabrication and conspiracy, peddling baseless claims that Pakistan supports ISKP or undermines global Muslim causes. It portrays Pakistan as immoral and anti-Islamic while framing the Taliban as a moral authority—a narrative that conveniently ignores the regime’s domestic repression of women and civil liberties.
Al-Mirsad exploits ethnic divisions by portraying Pakistan as an occupier in Pashtun and Baloch areas to stir internal discord. Internationally, it undermines Pakistan’s ties with key partners like China, calling the country unreliable to damage CPEC and regional projects.
It also co-opts global Muslim issues such as Gaza to spread anti-Pakistan narratives and appeal to younger audiences.The platform moves beyond propaganda into direct incitement, urging Pakistani citizens to rise and framing “jihad” as a religious duty. It avoids bans by using archiving and file-sharing sites, while high-volume, consistent output suggests AI assistance and a centralized newsroom approach. Hindi content indicates outreach to Indian audiences to reinforce anti-Pakistan sentiment.
Al-Mirsad pushes extreme conspiracies, including claims of a “Christian state agenda” and foreign plots against Pakistan, to generate fear. It invokes historical figures like Ahmad Shah Abdali to create false ideological links for the Taliban and portrays Pakistan as a failing state reliant on instability. Religious spaces are weaponized through humiliating narratives about Pakistanis.
Its goal is not just perception management but regional and global isolation of Pakistan via disinformation, reducing geopolitics to a simplistic “Islam vs. adversary” frame. It amplifies militant messaging, supporting recruitment, radicalization, and violence under religious cover. Projection of venomous ideology is not journalism but a structured propaganda weapon merging terrorism with information warfare. It distorts reality, radicalizes audiences, and serves the Taliban’s strategy of sustained hybrid confrontation, treating the information space as a battlefield against Pakistan.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Islamabad
