Indian cybersecurity chief praises DG ISPR, criticises Indian Army's PROs

Lt Gen (retd) Rajesh Pant praised Director General-Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) on Saturday, criticising the public relations officers of the Indian Army. 

Pant stressed on the need for a unified public relations command for the three wings of the Indian armed forces. He praised Pakistan's DG ISPR and said that "they [Pakistan Army] have got its act together" in the narrative warfare. 

The Indian cybersecurity chief was addressing a seminar titled 'Securing the Future Battlespace: Information and Space Warfare'. 

Pant demanded an equivalent of the DG ISPR for the Indian Army. He said that the three wings of the Indian armed forces had their own public relations officers and "they are going in different ways". 

"When are we going to have our own equivalent of the DG ISPR because the (Indian armed forces) services have their own PRs and they are going in different ways. Somebody at the national level now has to look at the narrative warfare and how to implement it in various domains," he was quoted as saying by The Times of India. 

The Indian cybersecurity chief said that ever since Pakistan Army created the DG ISPR post, "they have got their act together."

He said that when the DG ISPR conducts a narrative warfare on occupied Kashmir, the Pakistan Army spokesperson tells the world that human rights were being infringed in the occupied territory. 

While when they engage with Islamic nations they tell them that Islam is under threat, noted Pant, adding, "What they told southeast Asia is that there is a regional instability," said Pant. 

Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor was appointed DG ISPR in December 2016. He succeeded Maj Gen Asim Bajwa. previously, Maj Gen Ghafoor was commanding a division in Swat before he was asked to head the Pakistan Army's media wing.