Months after Pakistan said it had credible evidence that Indian agents carried out two assassinations on Pakistani soil, drawing comparisons to the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada, The Guardian (‘Indian government ordered killings in Pakistan, intelligence officials claim’, April 4) claimed in a report that India’s intelligence agency R&AW, at the behest of the Indian government, assassinated individuals in Pakistan “as part of a wider strategy to eliminate terrorists living on foreign soil”.
Earlier Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau had said there were “credible allegations” linking Indian intelligence agents to the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Sikh activist who was killed in Canada in June. India had denied the accusations as “absurd”.
The US made similar accusations against India, accusing Indian agents of directing an attempted assassination plot against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a New York-based lawyer and prominent Sikh activist, which was foiled by US agents. The Indian government had then said it was investigating these allegations.
In January this year Pak foreign secretary, Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi had said India was running a “sophisticated and sinister” campaign of “extraterritorial and extrajudicial killings” inside Pakistan.
He had said: “Indian agents used technology and safe havens on foreign soil to commit assassinations in Pakistan. They recruited, financed and supported criminals, terrorists and unsuspecting civilians to play defined roles in these assassinations.”
India had dismissed the allegations as “false and malicious anti-India propaganda”.
Interviews with intelligence officials in both countries, as well as documents shared by Pakistani investigators, shed new light on how India’s foreign intelligence agency allegedly began to carry out assassinations abroad as part of an emboldened approach to national security after 2019. The agency, the Research & Analysis Wing (Raw), is directly controlled by the office of India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, who is running for a third term in office in elections later this month.
The accounts appear to give further weight to allegations that Delhi has implemented a policy of targeting those it considers hostile to India.
The fresh claims relate to almost 20 killings since 2020, carried out by unknown gunmen in Pakistan. While India has previously been unofficially linked to the deaths, this is the first time Indian intelligence personnel have discussed the alleged operations in Pakistan, and detailed documentation has been seen alleging Raw’s direct involvement in the assassinations.
Meanwhile, Pakistani media has latched on to the opportunity to bash India and warn against such activities.
Citing examples from incidents in the US and Canada, The Nation (April 7) says, “Such acts are merely electoral stunts for India.” In the case of Pakistan however, the editorial warns India to “remain wary of the fact that Pakistan is not scared to exercise its right to self-defense.” It also implores the international community to “rise to the occasion and condemn India for its actions.”
Express Tribune (April 7), on the other hand, believes that “what is desired is a mechanism to talk it out at length and to address such grievances in a state-centric manner, and not to be left to shadow characters.”
This comes days after Rajnath Singh warned Islamabad of consequences if it tried to destabilise India using terrorism, saying, “Pakistan should stop the terrorism and if it feels incapable, India is ready to cooperate to stop terrorism.”
He had made it clear that India would enter Pakistan if terrorists ran away to the neighbouring nation after carrying out terror strikes in the country.
“If they run away to Pakistan, we will enter Pakistan to kill them,” Singh had said.
Also Read: 6 Killed In Sydney Mall Knife Attack, Assailant Shot Dead
