News Brief
Modi Government Ordered Targeted Killings Of Terrorists In Pakistan, Claims Report
A number of terrorists were killed in Pakistan by unidentified assailants (Representative Image)
The Indian government reportedly ordered the killing of terrorists living in Pakistan.
This was part of the government's wider strategy to eliminate terrorists living on foreign soil, The Guardian reported citing Indian and Pakistani intelligence operatives.
According to the report, India’s foreign intelligence agency allegedly began to carry out assassinations abroad as part of an emboldened approach to national security after 2019.
The agency, the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), is directly controlled by the office of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Indian and Pakistani officials cited in the report claimed that the killings were a response to a perceived need to preemptively eliminate threats posed by individual charged with serious and violent terror offences, and residing outside India's borders.
The latest claims involve nearly 20 killings in Pakistan since 2020, reportedly orchestrated by Indian intelligence sleeper cells primarily operating from the United Arab Emirates.
According to Pakistani investigators, Indian intelligence allegedly paid significant sums to local criminals or individuals in Pakistan to carry out these assassinations, with operations coordinated from the UAE.
These claims also include allegations of targeting Sikh separatists associated with the Khalistan movement, both within Pakistan and abroad.
According to the report, the rise in killings in Pakistan in 2023 was credited to the "increased activity of these cells, which are accused of paying millions of rupees to local criminals or poor Pakistanis to carry out the assassinations".
Indian agents also allegedly recruited jihadists to carry out the shootings, making them believe they were killing “infidels”, the report claimed.
According to two Indian intelligence officers, R&AW’s shift to focusing on terrorists abroad was triggered by the Pulwama terror attack in 2019, when a suicide bomber targeted a military convoy in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing 40 paramilitary personnel.
Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for the attack.
This attack reportedly prompted India to focus on preemptively targeting elements outside the country to prevent future attacks, drawing inspiration from intelligence agencies like Israel's Mossad and Russia's KGB.
In response to these allegations, India's Ministry of External Affairs has vehemently denied any involvement in targeted killings abroad, labeling the accusations as false and malicious anti-India propaganda.
The ministry reiterated that such actions are not part of the Indian government's policy.
The alleged killings include incidents such as the assassination of Zahid Akhund (an alias for convicted Kashmiri terrorist Zahoor Mistry) in Karachi in March 2022 and the killing of Jaish-e-Mohammed commander Shahid Latif in Pakistan in October.
These operations purportedly involved substantial payments to individuals recruited by R&AW, with coordination and financing through channels in Dubai and meetings in various locations, including Nepal, the Maldives, and Mauritius.
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