LONDON: The Narendra Modi-led Indian government assassinated people in Pakistan as part of a broader strategy to eliminate dissidents residing on foreign soil Indian and Pakistani intelligence operatives stated who spoke to the Guardian.
Interviews with intelligence officials from both countries, coupled with documents shared by Pakistani investigators, provide insight into the operations conducted by India’s foreign intelligence agency, the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), The Guardian reported.
The accounts suggest that RAW began carrying out assassinations abroad after 2019, under the direct control of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The reported killings, numbering almost 20 since 2020, were perpetrated by unknown gunmen in Pakistan. While India has previously been informally linked to these deaths, this marks the first time that Indian intelligence personnel have openly discussed the operations in Pakistan.
The allegations lend weight to claims that Delhi has adopted a policy of targeting dissidents people whom the Indian authorities deemed hostile to India. Notably, Indian involvement in the murders of dissident figures, such as a Sikh activist in Canada and a botched assassination attempt on another Sikh in the US, has drawn international scrutiny.
The fresh allegations also implicate Indian intelligence in targeting Sikh separatists associated with the Khalistan movement, both in Pakistan and abroad. According to Pakistani investigators, Indian intelligence sleeper cells, planned the killings. These cells paid local criminals huge sums to carry out the assassinations. Additionally, Indian agents recruited militants to execute the shootings, manipulating them into believing they were targeting “infidels.”
According to two Indian intelligence officers, the spy agency’s shift to focusing on dissidents abroad was triggered by the Pulwama attack in 2019. Narendra Modi was running for a second term at the time and regained power after the attack. The operations to assassinate dissidents abroad “needed approval from the highest level of government”, he added.
The officer said India had drawn inspiration from intelligence agencies such as Israel’s Mossad, which have been linked to extrajudicial killings on foreign soil.
Senior officials from two separate Pakistani intelligence agencies told the Guardian that 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 intelligence sources said that targeted assassinations increased significantly in 2023, accusing India of involvement in the suspected deaths of around 15 people, most of whom were shot at close range by unknown gunmen.
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 their handlers were later arrested by Pakistani security agencies.
Investigators alleged that millions of rupees would often be paid to criminals to carry out the murders. Meetings of RAW handlers overseeing the killings are also said to have taken also place in Nepal, the Maldives and Mauritius.
The allegations of extrajudicial killings, which would violate international law, could raise difficult questions for Western countries.
