Not our policy: India on report of 'targeted killings' in other countries

The intelligence sleuths from both countries have alleged in the report that the killings in Pakistan were 'orchestrated by Indian sleeper-cells mostly operating out of the United Arab Emirates'. The report also mentions India reportedly considering Saudi's approach wherein scribe Jamal Khashoggi was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

A series of allegations have been recently raised against India by intelligence sleuths in Pakistan about RAW's involvement in around 20 killings in Pakistan by "unknown gunmen" after the 2019 Pulwama attack. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has scrapped all the allegations with the Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar stating that "targeted killings in other countries were not the Government of India's policy".

However, in a first, Indian intelligence officials were interviewed by the UK daily The Guardian, along with the Pakistani intelligence officials who alleged that India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), which is closely monitored by the Prime Minister's Office, has been "directly involved" in the 20 assassinations in Pakistan, after 2019 Pulwama attack.

Two Indian intelligence officers were quoted by The Guardian on the condition of anonymity claiming that RAW had shifted focus to "dissidents" in foreign countries after the 2019 Pulwama attack in which 49 soldiers were martyred, when a lone suicide bomber ferrying 350 kg of explosives in a Scorpio attacked a paramilitary CRPF convoy in Kashmir.

It must be noted here that the attack was executed despite an Indian intelligence input that had warned of its possibility 48 hours earlier.

“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,” The Guardian quoted one Indian intelligence operative as saying.

The intelligence sleuths from both countries interviewed by the publication have alleged that the killings in Pakistan were "orchestrated by Indian sleeper-cells mostly operating out of the United Arab Emirates". The Indian intelligence officer was then quoted by the UK daily alleging that India "drew inspiration" from Israel's Mossad and Russia's KGB (Комитет государственной безопасности or The Committee for State Security). Both of these foreign security agencies are said to be involved in the extrajudicial killings in other countries outside Israel and Russia.

'India drew inspiration from alleged killing of Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi'

The Indian officer also recalled the death of Saudi scribe Jamal Khashoggi who died inside the consulate in 2018. Authorities in Saudi Arabia acknowledge that Khashoggi died in a fight inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks after the journalist's death, after speculations raised by then-US President Donald Trump along with many international communities.

The Pakistani intelligence officials claim to have gathered evidence, on the basis of which they allege that the killings in Pakistan after 2019 were regularly coordinated out of the UAE, "where RAW established sleeper cells that would separately arrange different parts of the operation and recruit the killers."

"We believe they have worked for around two years to establish these sleeper cells in the UAE who are mostly organising the executions. After that, we began witnessing many killings,” The Guardian quoted a Pakistani intelligence official as alleging.

Referring to Khashoggi's death, the Indian intelligence officer is further quoted by the publication as saying: “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 (Narendra Modi) 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 officer also stressed, “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 Nijjar assassination and 'allegations' involving India

When The Guardian approached the MHA for further comment on the findings extracted after interviewing intelligence sleuths from Pakistan and India, the MHA reiterated that the allegations were “false and malicious anti-India propaganda”.

Similar allegations have been levelled against India by the United States and Canada also. Last November, an Indian national was charged by federal prosecutors in the US, in connection with his participation in a foiled plot to assassinate Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader on American soil.

While raising concerns over the assassination of Nijjar, Canadian PM Trudeau had said last year in September: “The government of India needs to take this matter with the utmost seriousness. It is extremely serious and it has far-reaching consequences for international law and order." Canada also suspended an Indian diplomat after which India had condemned Trudeau and Canada's stand on allegations that India's RAW was involved in Nijjar's assassination.