Did India carry out targeted killings in Pakistan? What a new report 'alleges'

The news is “false and malicious anti-India propaganda”, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) after British daily The Guardian reported that India had carried out targeted killings in Pakistan to eliminate terrorists. The ministry further quoted Foreign Minister S Jaishankar who had previously said that targeted killings in other countries were “not the government of India’s policy”.

This follows earlier claims made by Canada and the US that India has been involved in assassinations and such attempts on foreign soil.

We examine each of these claims closely — from what was claimed and how New Delhi reacted to each of these accusations.

The Guardian’s Pakistan killings claim

On Thursday (5 April), The Guardian carried a report in which it stated that the Indian government had assassinated individuals in Pakistan as part of a wider strategy to eliminate terrorists living in foreign countries.

The report, which cited officials from both countries — India and Pakistan — as well as documents by Pakistani investigators disclose how the Indian government carried out these killings post 2019 under the supervision of India’s spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

The Guardian report states that India carried out as many as 20 killings in Pakistan dating back to 2020 and continued until as recently as last year. The daily said that the move of targeting terrorists on foreign soil came after the 2019 Pulwama attack when a suicide bomber belonging to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad targeted a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force, killing 40 personnel. “After Pulwama, the approach changed to target the elements outside the country before they are able to launch an attack or create any disturbance,” an Indian intelligence operative was quoted as telling The Guardian. “We could not stop the attacks because ultimately their safe havens were in Pakistan, so we had to get to the source.”

It is reported that India took inspiration from Israel’s Mossad and Russia’s KGB to carry out these assassinations. Additionally, an official in the report asserts that the killing of Jamal Khashoggi was also mentioned. “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?” he said.

And following this, the news outlet claims that India took out Zahid Akhund — also known as Mistry Zahoor Ibrahim — who was one of the five hijackers of the IC-814 Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Delhi in 1999, in 2022. Furthermore, India, as per the report, was involved in the killing Shahid Latif, a dreaded commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, and Bashir Ahmad Peer, a commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, and Saleem Rehmani, who was on India’s most-wanted list.

Pakistani investigators claim in the report that India used local criminals, or poor Pakistanis to carry out these killings. In some instances, Indian agents also used jihadists for the killings, claimed the report. The report claims that for the killing of Shahid Latif, India used an “illiterate 20-year-old Pakistani, who was recruited by RAW in the UAE, where he was working for a minimal salary in an Amazon packing warehouse”.

The MEA has classified the report as “false and anti-India propaganda”.

Pannun assassination attempt in the US

Prior to The Guardian report of India’s involvement in the killings of 20 individuals in Pakistan, the US, last November, claimed that it had thwarted an assassination attempt on Sikhs for Justice chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil.

Later, the US charged an Indian national, later identified as Nikhil Gupta , for his involvement in the plot to murder the US-based Khalistan leader. Federal authorities charged that Gupta had conspired to hire a hitman to assassinate a member of the Sikh separatist movement in New York City. While the indictment hadn’t mentioned Pannun, the Financial Times reported that Pannun was the subject of the plot.

As per the indictment, an Indian government employee along with Gupta directed the plot to kill Pannun.

Following the claims and the indictment, India and the US are working closely on the matter, with New Delhi setting up a commission to look into the Pannun murder plot.

And as recently as March, Indian officials handed over their findings into the matter to their US counterparts. As per a Bloomberg report, the report found that rogue officials , not authorised by the government, had been involved in the foiled plot to kill the Sikh separatist leader.

Nijjar killing in Canada

But it all started in September last year with Canada’s accusations that India had been involved in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar . Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau had then stood up in parliament and claimed that there were “credible allegations” that India had been involved in the murder of Nijjar back in June.

He had stated, “Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. It is contrary to the fundamental rules by which free, open and democratic societies conduct themselves.”

India quickly rebutted the allegations, with the MEA calling them “absurd.” “Such unsubstantiated allegations seek to shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the statement said.

“The inaction of the Canadian Government on this matter has been a long-standing and continuing concern.”

The allegations triggered a diplomatic row, with both sides expelling each other’s diplomats and issuing tit-for-tat travel advisories. New Delhi also suspended issuing visas for Canadians. It has, recently restarted issuing certain categories of visas for the citizens of Canada. Additionally, India also made Ottawa downsize its high commission in the national capital of India and its consulates in other cities.

India’s envoy to Ottawa, Sanjay Kumar Verma also stated that New Delhi had not received any “specific or relevant information” from Ottawa in support of the allegation about India’s role in the killing of Nijjar in Canada.

With inputs from agencies