NEW DELHI: Last week, Pakistan’s foreign secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi claimed he had ‘credible evidence’ to prove India’s involvement in the killings of two Pakistanis on Pak soil, a charge promptly rebuffed by India as “false and malicious propaganda”.
In the past, Islamabad had accused New Delhi of supporting the uprising in the Baloch region but this is the first time it officially named India for the mysterious killings of jihadists, who were known to be working against India, from within Pakistan.
In his press conference at the foreign office in Islamabad, the Pak foreign secretary alleged Indian agents were behind the killings of the two Pakistanis, whom India considered as terrorists associated with the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Toiba in Sialkot and Rawalkot respectively in 2023.
Shahid Latif, a key aide of Jaish chief Masood Azhar and the mastermind of the 2016 attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, was gunned down by unknown assailants in a mosque in Sialkot in Punjab province on October 11, 2023.
On September 8, 2023, Riyaz Ahmad alias Abu Qasim, affiliated with Lashkar-e-Toiba and one of the main conspirators behind the Dhangri terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir on January 1, 2023, was shot dead in a similar fashion inside the Al-Qudus mosque in the Rawalakot area in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
Curiously, among other things, the Pak foreign secretary cited some Indian right-wing social media accounts that had celebrated these killings to substantiate his theory that India carried out these “extra-territorial killings”.
There are at least 12 similar incidents where Pakistanis known to be working against India mysteriously dropped dead. Pakistan is said to be ready with a dossier accusing India for orchestrating the killings by hiring local hit men.
According to Qazi, the killings “fit the pattern” of the purported Indian murder-for-hire cases in the US and Canada.
Pakistan is yet to publicise the findings of its investigations into the 12 cases. Nor has it handed over its ‘evidence’ to India. With Islamabad not prepared to go beyond making wild accusations, the allegations could die a natural death.
But China invited itself into the scene with foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin terming Pakistan’s charges against India "worthy of its attention", keeping the issue burning.
Curious timing
Why is Pakistan blaming India and why now? Some believe the Pakistani military is nervous ahead of India’s general elections as it fears New Delhi might do a repeat of the 2019 Balakot attack, when Indian fighter jets entered deep inside Pak airspace and destroyed a terror training camp.
Analysts claim the cross-border attack boosted the winning prospects of the BJP in the 2019 elections. With the 2024 general elections just months away, Islamabad is possibly worried New Delhi could launch another ‘surgical strike’.
Pakistan’s former national security adviser Najam Sethi recently said that through these allegations, Pakistan’s leadership was “signalling” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration ahead of the general elections. “States have to have contingency plans in place and send signals to their adversaries,” he was quoted as saying.
India’s hard diplomacy
For India, cross-border terrorism, especially from Pakistan via Kashmir or Punjab, has always been a major headache. New Delhi was at the receiving end of Pak-sponsored terror for many years and its response used to be mostly defensive.
But in recent years, especially in the second term of the Modi government, India’s foreign policy strategy has undergone a radical change.
In a notable departure from the tradition of soft diplomacy and smooth talk, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has started aggressively defending India’s strategic interests in public forums without mincing words to show critics their place.
Parallelly, counter-terrorism activities were set in motion to protect India’s national security interests. As the proactive measures started giving results, noises about Indian agents’ role in neutralising separatists living abroad started gaining traction.
The turning point was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s dramatic statement in Canada’s Parliament about the alleged involvement of Indian agencies in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Colombia in June 2023. Trudeau cited “credible allegations” linking India to the killing but produced no evidence for his outlandish claim. He also expelled an Indian diplomat, triggering a tit-for-tat response from India which also asked 40 Canadian diplomats to leave the country, demanding diplomatic parity.
Canada never bothered to produce any evidence for its allegations though India said it would investigate the matter if relevant material is handed over.
A few months later, in November, the US Justice Department charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta with planning to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US.
Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic and is currently in a jail in Prague, awaiting extradition to the US. After the US handed over some documents to buttress its charges, India formed a committee to investigate the case.
Counter-terrorism dynamics
According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, the number of terrorists killed in India has come down from nearly 2,260 in 2000 to 230 in 2023. In the new year, there have been only six such instances so far.
On the contrary, there has been a spike in the number of killings of criminals wanted in India but bumped off abroad. In almost all cases, there is nothing to suggest India’s involvement as the assassins, whenever caught, turned out to be local guns-for-hire.
The nature of covert operations is such that if the attempt goes sideways, there won’t be a trail of evidence to link it back to the handlers. So, when allegations are levelled, they are countered with plausible deniability.
WANTED IN INDIA, KILLED ABROAD
Dawood Malik (October 20, 2023): A close aide of Maulana Masood Azhar, involved in anti-India activities. Shot dead in North Waziristan by unidentified gunmen
Shahid Latif (October 11, 2023): A terrorist affiliated with Jaish-e-Mohammed, he masterminded the 2016 Pathankot terror attacks. He was killed by unidentified gunmen in Sialkot
Ziaur Rehman (September 29, 2023): An LeT member, he was involved in radicalising youth against India. Shot dead by unknown assailants in Karachi
Sukhdool Singh (September 21, 2023): A Khalistani terrorist, also known as Sukha Duneke. Was killed in Winnipeg, Canada
Abu Qasim Kashmiri (September 8, 2023): Also known as Riyaz Ahmad from Jammu, he was the key figure behind the Dhangri attack in Rajouri. Killed by unidentified gunmen in PoK
Sardar Hussain Arain (August 1, 2023): LeT and a close aide of Hafeez Saeed, Arain was responsible for the madrassa network of Jamaat-ud-Dawah. Shot dead near his shop in Karachi. Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army claimed responsibility for the attack
Hardeep Singh Nijjar (June 19, 2023): Chief of the Khalistan Tiger Force and head of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib. He was killed in the parking lot of the gurdwara
Avtar Singh Khanda (June 16, 2023): UK-based Khalistan terrorist, he died in a Birmingham hospital. He played a role in an attempt to vandalise the Indian High Commission in London
Paramjit Singh Panjwar (May 6, 2023): Chief of Khalistan Commando Force, also known as Malik Sardar Singh, was shot dead near his home in Lahore. He had been on India’s most wanted list and was a key leader of the Khalistan Commando Force
Syed Noor Shalobar (March 4, 2023): Notorious for recruiting terrorists in the Kashmir valley and collaborating with Pak Army and ISI, Shalobar was killed in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region
Bashir Ahmad Peer (February 20, 2023): Also known as Imtiyaz Alam, Peer, a top commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, was murdered in Rawalpindi. He had been living in Pakistan for over 15 years and played a key role in terrorist activities in the Kashmir valley
Syed Khalid Raza (February 27, 2023) Former commander of Al-Badr Mujahideen, he was killed in Karachi. Had close ties with Hizb chief Syed Salahuddin and was notably involved in infiltrating terrorists into Kupwara
Aijaz Ahmad Ahangar (February 14, 2023) Ahangar, a Kashmiri terrorist associated with the global terror group Islamic State, was found dead in Afghanistan’s Kunar Province
Harvinder Singh Sandhu (November 19, 2022) Also known as Harwinder Singh Rinda, Sandhu, a Khalistani terrorist, died in a hospital in Lahore. He was linked to the assassination of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala
Ripudaman Singh Malik (July 14, 2022) Malik, associated with the Babbar Khalsa, a Khalistani terrorist outfit, was shot dead in Surrey, Canada. He had previously faced charges related to the 1985 Air India flight bombing
Zahoor Mistry (March 1, 2022): A terrorist affiliated with Jaish-e-Mohammed, he was involved in the hijacking of an Indian Airlines IC-814 plane. He was killed in Karachi by gunmen on motorcycles
