India Accused Of Targeted Killings In Pakistan, Report Alleges Link To PM Modi's Office

(MENAFN- Live Mint) "Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office ordered the assassination of individuals in neighbouring Pakistan, Indian and Pakistani intelligence operatives have told the Guardian. According to the report, the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), an agency that is directly controlled by PM Modi's office, had undertaken the strategy to“eliminate terrorists living on foreign soil”.
The Guardian report says India's foreign intelligence agency allegedly began to carry out assassinations abroad as part of an emboldened approach to national security after 2019, 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.
In May 2023, Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar was shot dead by unrecognised assailants in Pakistan's Lahore. Reports had said that Panjwar, one of the most wanted terrorists, was pumped with bullets fired from a 30 calibre pistol while he was out for a morning walk at Johar town in Lahore along with his gunman June 2023, Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed on 'Canadian soil'.The Guardian report concentrates on killings in Pakistan, which it claims have crossed 20 since 2020. 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 allegations also suggest that Sikh separatists in the Khalistan movement were targeted as part of these Indian foreign operations, both in Pakistan and the West sleeper cells at workThe latest documents note that the deaths of people, whom PM Modi's office thought were hostile towards India, were orchestrated by Indian intelligence sleeper cells, mostly operating out of the United Arab Emirates Guardian report says that the sleeper cells paid millions of rupees to local criminals or poor Pakistanis to carry out the assassinations. A surge in these deaths has been noticed since 2023.
Indian agents also allegedly recruited jihadists to carry out the shootings, making them believe they were killing“infidels”.Pulwama attack effectThe Guardian report, quoting intelligence officers, said RAW's focus on terrorists outside of India was triggered by the Pulwama attack in 2019. The Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for sending a suicide bomber targetting a military convoy in Kashmir.
How is PM Modi featured in these attacks?An Indian intelligence operative told the Guardian,“After Pulwama, the approach changed to target the elements outside the country before they are able to launch an attack or create any disturbance. We could not stop the attacks because ultimately their safe havens were in Pakistan, so we had to get to the source.”To conduct such operations, we“needed approval from the highest level of government,” he added Khashoggi's killing - an inspirationAccording to the intelligence officer, the murder of Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, inspired the Indian government, apart from Israel's Mossad and Russia's KGB. The two agencies are known to have conducted extrajudicial killings on foreign soil.“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's extrajudicial killingsSenior officials from two separate Pakistani intelligence agencies said they suspected India's involvement in up to 20 killings since 2020. They pointed to evidence relating to previously undisclosed inquiries into seven of the cases – including witness testimonies, arrest records, financial statements, WhatsApp messages and passports – which investigators say showcase in detail the operations conducted by Indian spies to assassinate targets on Pakistani soil. The Guardian has seen the documents but they could not be independently verified intelligence sources claimed that targeted assassinations increased significantly in 2023, accusing India of involvement in the suspected deaths of about 15 people, most of whom were shot at close range by unknown gunmen the killing of Zahid Akhund, an alias for convicted Kashmiri terrorist Zahoor Mistry who was involved in the deadly hijacking of an Air India flight, the Pakistani documents say a RAW handler allegedly paid for information on Akhund's movements and location over a period of months. She then allegedly contacted him directly, pretending to be a journalist who wanted to interview a terrorist, in order to confirm his identity.“Are you Zahid? I am a journalist from the New York Post,” read messages in the dossier shown to the Guardian. Zahid is said to have responded:“For what u r messaging me?”Millions of rupees were then allegedly paid to Afghan nationals to carry out the shooting in Karachi in March 2022. They fled over the border but Pakistani security agencies later arrested their handlers of RAW handlers overseeing the killings are also said to have taken place in Nepal, the Maldives and Mauritius.

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