This is the third time India has been accused of assassinating or attempting to assassinate people on foreign soil.
The Indian government got ‘individuals’ killed in Pakistan as part of Delhi’s larger strategy to eliminate wanted terrorists living on foreign soil, ‘The Guardian’, a renowned global newspaper, claimed in a report on Thursday quoting some “intelligence operatives of India and Pakistan”. The report implicates the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), an agency directly controlled by PM Modi’s office, in carrying out operations to eliminate these individuals. The London-based daily purportedly possesses documents shedding light on RAW’s alleged operations overseas. The report said that India carried out these operations “as part of an emboldened approach to national security after 2019”. It specifically references nearly 20 killings in Pakistan since 2020, reportedly executed by unidentified gunmen.
‘The Guardian’ report says, “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 R&AW‘s direct involvement in the assassinations”.
Notably, this is the third time India has been accused of assassinating or attempting to assassinate people on foreign soil. Earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had claimed that there were ‘credible allegations’ against India in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Later, the United States had also claimed that they had thwarted an assassination attempt on another Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
When Muhammad Riaz and Shahid Latif were gunned down in 2023 on Pakistan soil, Islamabad had accused India’s intelligence agency of being behind the killings. New Delhi was then quick to dismiss the allegations, calling them “malicious anti-India propaganda”.
Report claims India’s sleeper class at work
Referring to the details shared by the Pakistani investigators, the London-based newspaper said that “these deaths were orchestrated by Indian intelligence sleeper cells, mostly operating out of the United Arab Emirates”. “The rise in killings in 2023 was credited to the increased activity of these cells, which are accused of paying millions of rupees to local criminals or poor Pakistanis to carry out the assassinations.”
According to the report, “Indian agents also allegedly recruited jihadists to carry out the shootings.”
After Pulwama attack
Similarly, the report said quoting two Indian intelligence officers that the spy agency’s action was triggered by the Pulwama attack in 2019, which was perpetrated by the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
“After Pulwama, the approach changed to target the elements outside the country before they are able to launch an attack or create any disturbance,” one Indian intelligence operative said. “We could not stop the attacks because ultimately their safe havens were in Pakistan, so we had to get to the source.”
Inspiration drawn from Jamal Khashoggi’s killing
According to the report, India had drawn inspiration from intelligence agencies such as Israel’s the Mossad and Russia’s KGB, which have been linked to extrajudicial killings on foreign soil. It said the killing of the Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in 2018 in the Saudi embassy, had been directly cited by Raw officials.
“It was a few months after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi that there was a debate among the top brass of intelligence in the prime minister’s office about how something can be learned from the case. One senior officer said in a meeting that if Saudis can do this, why not us?” the report said quoting two Indian intelligence officers.
“What the Saudis did was very effective. You not only get rid of your enemy but send a chilling message, a warning to the people working against you. Every intelligence agency has been doing this. Our country cannot be strong without exerting power over our enemies,” the intelligence officer told the Guardian.
MEA denies all allegations
The Guardian also says that in response to its queries, the Ministry of External Affairs denied all the allegations, reiterating an earlier statement that they were “false and malicious anti-India propaganda”.
The ministry emphasised a previous denial made by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar that targeted killings in other countries were “not the government of India’s policy”.