New Delhi: Following a detailed news report by The Guardian, which claimed that India conducted targeted killings in Pakistan to eliminate terrorists, the Indian government rebutted the same, calling the report “false and malicious anti-India propaganda”, NDTV reported.
The Union External Affairs Ministry quoted minister S Jaishankar who stated that targeted killing in foreign countries is not India’s policy.
According to the UK daily report, the Indian administration has implemented a policy to target those it feels are hostile to the country. The report also mentioned the ministry’s denial.
The report suggested that the Indian intelligence agency RAW committed around 20 such assassinations on foreign soil since the 2019 Pulwama attack. The report stated that its conclusions were based on evidence gathered daily from Pakistan and interviews with intelligence officials from both sides of the border.
The Guardian quoted an anonymous official to state that New Delhi drew inspiration from intelligence agencies of Israel and Russia, Mossad and KGB, respectively. These agencies are notorious for their extrajudicial killings on foreign soil. The report also mentions Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi’s killing in 2018.
The report claimed that the Pakistan administration produced documents of some of the killings and claimed that they were orchestrated by sleeper cells of Indian intelligence agencies established in the UAE.
The US and Canada earlier accused India of carrying out assassinations and attempts on foreign lands. Last September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of involvement in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar was a Canadian citizen but wanted terrorist in India, was shot outside a gurudwara in Surrey in June.
The US had stated that it had foiled an attempt to kill another Khalistani separatist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. According to the US, American-Canadian citizen Pannun was targeted to kill by an Indian national Nikhil Gupta and an in-named Indian government official.