The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has denied allegations of a report by The Guardian that mentioned India carrying out targeted assassinations in Pakistan, calling them “false and malicious anti-India propaganda.” The report by The Guardian quoted intelligence operatives in India and Pakistan to claim that the move was part of wider strategy to eliminate terrorists living of foreign soils.
The allegations are false and malicious anti-India propaganda, the MEA told the in response to the report. The Ministry also underlined a previous statement by the Foreign Minister S Jaishankar in which he said that targeted killings in other countries is were not the policy of the government of India.
According to the report, the documents shared by some Pakistani investigators indicated India’s intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) allegedly carried out 20 such targeted killings on foreign soil as part of the emboldened approach to national security after the Pulwama Attack (2019) in Jammu and Kashmir which killed 40 CRPF personnel.
The Pakistan based and sponsored terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba took responsibility for the attack later. Targeted assassinations increased significantly in 2023 and with sources in the Pakistan intelligence accusing India of involvement in suspected deaths of about 15 people most of whom were shot at close range, the report said.
According to Pakistani investigators, these deaths were carried out (orchestrated) by Indian sleeper cells mostly operating from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The report was support by recent claims of Canada alleging the involvement of the Indian government in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, outside a Gurudwara in Surrey on June 18, 2023.
Quoting Indian intelligence operatives, the report also claimed India had drawn inspiration from the intelligence agencies of Israel and Russia, the Mossad and KGB respectively, which have been linked to the extrajudicial killings on foreign soil. He also said that the killing of Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi who was murdered in 2018 in Saudi Embassy had been directly cited by the RAW officials.
Meanwhile, analysts believed Paksitani authorities have been reluctant to publicly acknowledged the killings as most of the targets were known terrorists and associates of outlawed terrorist groups, the report said. The relations between India and Pakistan have been depleting from the past many years as Pakistan sponsoring terrorism, allegedly providing shelter and safe haven to India’s declared terrorists and its illegal occupation of POJK.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Defence Minister Khwaja Asif has expressed hopes for betterment in bilateral ties with India after the upcoming general elections in India are over, Pakistan media reported. “Our relations with India could be improved after elections there, Asif said,” as he spoke to reporters outside the country’s Parliament house in Islamabad on April 1, 2024. Later, on April 4, 2024, the EAM S Jaishankar said that India’s ties with all neighbours except Pakistan and China have improved significantly compared to previous times and occasions.
