Pakistani Jyoti Malhotra a Popular Vlogger: Inside the Web of Online Speculation
Like so many stories of our times, this one too begins with a ring, light, and a camera. It features a woman named Jyoti Malhotra. She is from the state of Haryana. She is a YouTube influencer, a travel blogger. She has 377,000 subscribers on YouTube, more than 100,000 followers on Instagram. Jyoti Malhotra has documented her journeys across the globe from bustling cities to quiet mountain towns, but one destination stands out, and that is Pakistan.
She has been there multiple times. Images of her trips have now gone viral. One of them shows her with Mariam Nawaz, the Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province. Jyoti’s last trip to Pakistan was in March this year, and now she is behind bars, arrested on suspicions of being a spy for Pakistan. Here is what the authorities are saying. Jyoti Malhotra was in touch with a Pakistani diplomat and official in their High Commission in New Delhi, someone who was expelled after the Pehlgam attack.
Investigators say Jyoti’s trips were sponsored, that she was in touch with Pakistani officials, they shared sensitive information, and that she was being developed as an asset, she was being groomed by them. Her family calls these allegations preposterous, they say that she was only blogging, that’s video blogging.
I’m sure more details will emerge as the investigation proceeds, but this case is just the tip of the iceberg. In the last few days, there have been at least 11 other arrests across three states. These are people who came from different walks of life, a businessman, a techie, a student, even a security guard, all connected by a single serious allegation, spying for Pakistan.
Another key arrest is from the state of Uttar Pradesh. It was a businessman named Shehzad. On paper, he ran cross-border trade, but investigators say. He went far beyond commerce. He is said to have been an ISI point person. He helped them recruit people. He was also believed to be selling Indian currency and SIM cards to them.
Then there’s a postgraduate student. He was spying on Indian military installations. He passed sensitive details about the Patiala Air Force Station straight to Pakistan.
One guy allegedly even developed an app. He made it to stay in touch with his Pakistani handlers. As we speak, more people are being rounded up. These arrests reveal a complex web of espionage. It’s disturbing, but neither surprising nor new. Pakistan’s ISI has long cast its net on Indian civilians. After all, that’s what the agency was built to do. The Inter-Services Intelligence ISI, was founded in 1948. Since then, it has operated like a state within a state. Over the decades, it has built a sprawling espionage network. It targets India’s military infrastructure, its political fault lines, and increasingly, its digital spaces.
The strategy is quite simple. Blend in. Do not rely on known assets. Use ordinary people. Exploit their vulnerabilities, financial or otherwise, and use them as modes in a larger machine. It worked in the 1990s with cross-border operatives in Kashmir. It worked in the 2000s with double agents.
In fact, in 2010, there was a case of Madhuri Gupta, an Indian Foreign Service officer. She was convicted of spying for Pakistan. And now the ISI seems to be turning to ordinary people.
Between 2013 and 2016, India arrested 46 Pakistani spies, 46 spies in three years. They were arrested from across the country. And now a new round of arrests has begun. What does it tell you?
Even when the battlefield looks silent, the battle is on. When it’s not their terrorists, it’s their soldiers. When it’s not their soldiers, it’s their spies. Some do it unwittingly. Others know exactly what their mission is and for whom. Either way, it’s a low visibility, high impact game. Use the unlikely, stay off the radar, keep it plausible, and do not leave a trace. That is how it works. And that’s also why it’s so hard to stop. Because the best spies do not look like spies. They look like you and me. And that is the real challenge.
