Pegasus scandal points to the making of a surveillance state in India. Our freedoms are at stake

The past few days have once again provided extensive evidence of a cyberattack on Indian citizens. Barring the evasive statements issued by various ministers of the Government of India, we are yet to hear any substantive explanation of why phone numbers of several Indian politicians, including Rahul Gandhi, activists and lawyers were found to be amongst the 50,000 other phone numbers believed to be potential surveillance targets by governments around the world. It is correct that for a variety of reasons, forensic testing that might have revealed infection by NSO’s Pegasus was not possible in each of these cases. But the presence of these numbers does call for a thorough investigation, instead of another word salad being offered by the government.