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Khalistani protesters (Representative Image)
India’s intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), is involved in planning assassinations of Sikh and Kashmiri separatists living in foreign countries, US media portal The Intercept reported citing secret Pakistani intelligence assessments.
According to these documents leaked to The Intercept , RAW has been coordinating with local criminal networks and dissident groups to carry out these plans.
The alleged targets are individuals and institutions believed to support armed insurgencies in Kashmir and Khalistani terrorists residing in Pakistan, who are sought by the Indian government.
According to the report, the documents, produced by Intelligence Bureau of India's arch-rival Pakistan, "offer compelling substantiation for the sensational claim that India has been carrying out a transnational assassination program against its political enemies".
This includes the case of Canadian Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in Surrey, British Columbia in June.
Later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had alleged Indian government's involvement in Nijjar's killing. However, India refuted the allegations calling them "absurd" and "motivated".
Furthermore, the family of Avtar Singh Khanda, a Khalistani terrorist in Britain, has raised suspicions about his sudden death, alleging Indian intelligence involvement.
Another case mentioned in the report is the killing of Ripudaman Singh Malik, a Sikh Canadian acquitted in the Air India flight bombing, under circumstances that remain unclear.
The Pakistani intelligence report alleges RAW's plans to assassinate two Sikh activists in Pakistan, specifically in Lahore and Islamabad.
One of these individuals is Lakhbir Singh Rode, a Sikh separatist leader. Rode has been a figure in the Khalistan movement and has resided in Pakistan since the 1990s.
The documents reportedly also suggest an acceleration in targeted attacks within Pakistan against individuals wanted by India.
Recent reports in Indian media covered the killing of a terrorist connected to an Islamist group in Karachi, following the deaths of two other terrorists wanted by India, the report said.
“It has been learnt through reliable sources that hostile intelligence agency (RAW) with the collaboration of sub-nationalist groups / anti-state activists and local criminal networks is already planning to carry out terrorist attacks on the marakiz / masjid / religious seminaries / leaders / notables of Ahl-e-Hadith sect linked with organizations remained active in the Kashmir Jihad," one document by Pakistani IB states, Intercept reported.