The already volatile Indo-Pak relations were put to the test when the Twitter accounts of two Indian celebrities were hacked and pro-Pakistani tweets were made from them. The celebrities in question were the renowned actor, Amitabh Bachchan, and singer, Adnan Sami. The culprit behind this has been identified to be Ayyildiz Tim, a Turkish hacker group who did a series of tweets from the hacked accounts in support of Pakistan and it’s prime minister. However, nothing serious or harmful was done – it just left people of both nations laughing.
India and Pakistan are two neighboring countries in the Indian subcontinent. They used to be a single country before being separated 71 years ago. Their relationship hasn’t exactly been the friendliest since then and conflicts often arise. Thankfully, in this age of the internet, most of these conflicts are online.
This Twitter account incident is the latest of these conflicts, though it’s not as serious. The profile pictures of these celebrities were changed to that of Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Their Bios were changed as well and tweets against India were made as you can see below. These accounts were, however, recovered within half an hour and the matter is being currently investigated by Mumbai Police and their cybercrime unit.
As you can see in the picture above, the profile picture of Amitabh Bachchan’s account has been changed with the caption, “Love Pakistan”. Imran Khan has also been tagged in the caption. The other post you see reads, “The Indian State, who mercilessly attacks the Muslims fasting in the month of Ramadan, is attacking the Ummah Muhammad in this age! Indian Muslims are entrusted to us by Abdulhamid”. Along with this, a picture of the Pakistani and Turkish flags has also been posted to signify Pak-Turk friendship.
Another post by the hacked Amitabh Bachchan account says, “This is an important call to the whole world! We do condemn the irrespective behaviors of Iceland republic towards Turkish footballers. We speak softly but carry a big stick and inform you about the big Cyber attack here. As Ayyldz Tim Turkish Cyber Armny +++”. This is followed by a picture which bears the logo of the Turkish hacker group.
Similarly, posts have also been made from the hacked Adnan Sami account. One of the pinned posts said, “Whoever shows the courage to betrayal our brother country Pakistan know that you will see Pakistan’s prime minister’s photo and Pakistan flag as profile picture. Ayyildiz tim @ImranKhanPTI”. Again, this is followed by the picture of the logo of the group.
Now Ayyildiz Tim, as mentioned earlier, is a Turkish group that specializes in ethical hacking. It even has its own website and social media pages on Facebook and Instagram where it provides its services. You can even buy order their book from the website, though I’d advise against making online payments to an organization that can manipulate online accounts.
This group does seem to have a dislike towards India as it did something similar last year with Indian actors Shahid Kapoor and Anupam Kher. It hasn’t done anything of this sort to any Pakistani celebrity and, from what we saw in the posts, sides politically with Pakistan. Most believe this is because both Pakistan and Turkey are countries with a Muslim majority.
That, however, may just be a common speculation. This does not imply that Pakistani accounts are invulnerable to a hack, especially from this group. This act is not only illegal but morally wrong as well no matter how harmless it may have seemed. This goes to show that the people behind this will travel at great lengths to get what they want.