In recent editorials, Pakistani newspapers blamed India's external intelligence agency Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) for a series of killings in Pakistan and Canada, and a plot to kill a Sikh leader in the United States. The slain appear to have been involved with anti-India terror groups or the Sikh secessionist movement, which seeks independence of Punjab from India.
Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, a right-wing Urdu-language daily in Pakistan, wrote an editorial titled "Another International Proof That India Is A Terrorist," condemning India. It was written after The Guardian published a report saying that RAW was involved in killings outside India. Earlier, in October 2023, Dawn, an English-language Pakistani daily, also wrote an editorial saying India cannot go around the world murdering people.
The overall context for such reports and editorials about RAW's involvement begin after the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh secessionist leader in Canada, in June 2023. This incident led to a diplomatic conflict between India and Canada, with the U.S. backing Canada. Separate from Nijjar's killing in Canada, the U.S. Department of Justice said in an indictment that Indian intelligence official Nikhil Gupta had planned the assassination of U.S.-based Khalistani activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.[1]
Following are excerpts from the Nawa-i-Waqt editorial:[2]
"India Targeted Its Opponents Not Only In Pakistan But Also In Other Countries"; "The Banned [Terror Groups] TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan] And ISIS Were Also Used By India"
"The British newspaper Guardian has revealed in its investigative report compiled on the basis of interviews and documents and evidence of Indian and Pakistani intelligence officials that the Indian secret agency 'RAW' has killed 20 people in Pakistan since 2020. It has been said in the report that India has adopted the policy of killing its opponents abroad as a matter of national security since the Pulwama incident in 2019.
"According to the report, India targeted its opponents not only in Pakistan but also in other countries. The killing of the Khalistan leader in Canada and the conspiracy to kill the Sikh leaders in America can be presented as evidence in this regard. It has been said in the report that India used its intelligence network and sleeper cells in an Arab country for this purpose. According to the report, the most murders were committed in Pakistan during 2023.
"A large amount of money was given to Afghan citizens for this purpose. The banned [terror groups] TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan] and ISIS [Islamic State] were also used by India. Some agents were also trained in Afghanistan for target killing. It has been stated in the report that an Indian intelligence officer paid for the killing of Kashmiri freedom fighter Zahid Akhund to get information about Akhund's movements. Similarly, a cover agent in India paid 1.5 million rupees in an Arab country for having Shahid Latif of Jaish-e-Muhammad killed by a 20-year-old youth and promised to pay 15 million rupees more on the completion of the mission and have a catering company opened for him in that Arab country...
"It has been said in the report that India started its policy of killing its opponents abroad taking inspiration from the Israeli agency 'Mossad' and the Russian intelligence agency. According to The Guardian, the Indian Foreign Minister [S. Jaishankar] has denied these allegations, while the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan [Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi] made revelations in a press conference a few months ago regarding India's involvement in the killing of two Pakistani citizens.
"About India being a brutal terrorist country, revelations have been made with documentary evidence by various research institutes at the global and regional level. Some time ago, an authoritative American journal also published its investigative report, which, providing evidence of India's terrorist acts in different countries of the world, declared it as the world's number one terrorist. Similarly, in its report last year [2023], an international research institute identified countries in this region and internationally where terror incidents happened at the best of India."
"If Pakistan Had Not Made Itself A Nuclear Power To Defeat These Indian Conspiracies, Then India Would Have Fulfilled Its Dream Of Erasing Pakistan From The Face Of The Earth By Now"
"On the killing of a leader of the Khalistan Movement [Hardeep Singh Nijjar] in Canada, the intelligence agencies of five... countries, including Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, jointly investigated and found India guilty of the murder. Based on this report, Canada severed diplomatic relations with India, and the United States also expressed strong condemnation.
"India's enmity with Pakistan has been underway since the day of its inception, and the Indian government has made the weakening of Pakistan's security through different machinations an integral part of its foreign policy. Under this policy, various conspiracies are hatched against Pakistan. India, in its enmity with Islam, has also targeted Pakistan, did not shy away from water terrorism against it. Attempts were made to harm its security by committing aggression in the form of regular wars three times.
"And in the war of 1971, with the support of the terrorist organization Mukti Bahini [Bengali-speaking group fighting against Pakistani army], Pakistan was brought to face the Fall of Dhaka [and creation of Bangladesh]. Also, India obtained nuclear technology with the intention of jeopardizing Pakistan's security [with nuclear tests in 1974]. If Pakistan had not made itself a nuclear power to defeat these Indian conspiracies, then India would have fulfilled its dream of erasing Pakistan from the face of the earth by now.
Shahid Latif, terror suspect, killed in Pakistan (image courtesy: IndiaToday.in).
"In the same context and based on these ground realities, the significance of Pakistan's armed forces for national defense forces has doubled. They have countered every Indian conspiracy and aggression, fulfilling the demands of defending the country by confronting them head-on. And they have made the nations of the world accept their God-given military and defense capabilities.
"Of course, it is the need of the hour for Pakistan's soldiers to be on the alert all the time against an insidious enemy like India, because India has adopted a policy of keeping the market of terror and violence hot here by infiltrating its terrorists into Pakistan from its borders as well as through borders of Afghanistan and Iran. In this regard, every government in Kabul, including the Taliban, participated in Indian conspiracies to weaken Pakistan's security, and practically handed over the Afghan land to Indian 'RAW' to train terrorists."
"The Possibility Of India's Involvement Cannot Be Ruled Out In The Recent Terrorist Attacks On Security Forces In Two Cities In Iran"; "This Situation Requires International Organizations And Global Leaderships To Give A Shut-Up Call To India"
"Similarly, India spread a network of espionage and terrorism under the leadership of the serving officer of the Indian Navy, Kulbhushan Jadhav [now under arrest in Pakistan], to infiltrate its terrorists into Pakistan from the border of Iran, which Kulbhushan himself admitted in his statement. While Pakistan prepared two dossiers with documentary evidence about this Indian espionage network and sent them to the United Nations Secretariat, the U.S. State Department, and all world leaders, so that Indian terrorist intentions are not hidden from the nations of the world.
"In this region, peace and security are always under the threat of India and its expansionist ambitions, which have the full patronage of the United States and have become a serious threat to international peace and security, in addition to the region. Through its machinations, India also conspires to sow distrust between Pakistan and its brotherly neighboring countries – China and Iran. For this purpose, it utilizes its terrorist networks.
"In recent days, by using the banned TTP, India carried out terrorist attacks on Pakistan's security forces and also executed a suicide attack on the convoy of Chinese engineers working at the under-construction Dasu Power Plant through TTP [on March 26, 2024]. Its sole purpose was to create cracks in Pakistan-China relations. Similarly, India continues to conspire to blame Pakistan by executing terrorist incidents in Iran; and its goal is to create misunderstandings between Pakistan and Iran. Its numerous conspiracies have been proven multiple times.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a Sikh separatist leader based in Canada.
"In this context, the possibility of India's involvement cannot be ruled out in the recent terrorist attacks on security forces in two cities of Iran. Pakistan immediately condemned these attacks and expressed its solidarity with Iran, while in the context of these incidents, India will only try to make Iran suspicious of Pakistan.
"For the sake of regional and international peace, this situation requires international organizations and global leaderships to give a shut-up call to India and take practical steps to immediately stop its expansionist and terrorist ambitions. Otherwise, destruction of world peace at the hands of India is not a distant thing."
Following are excerpts from the Dawn editorial:[3]
"The Canadian Government Has Said It Has Evidence Of Indian Involvement In The Murder [Of Hardeep Singh Nijjar In Canada]; And Now Pakistan Is Claiming The Same" For A Spate Of Killings In Pakistan
"A recent assassination – the latest in a spate of similar killings from Karachi to Kashmir – has turned the spotlight onto what has seemed, for quite a while, to be an organized campaign overseen by a hostile intelligence agency to murder individuals on Pakistani soil. In the last two months [September-October 2023] alone, there have been at least four targeted killings that have, either directly or indirectly, been attributed by police to India's foreign intelligence agency, the Research & Analysis Wing [RAW].
"In each case, armed assailants tracked, targeted, and killed individuals associated in various capacities with different religious outfits. However, after the most recent incident, in which a former activist of the outlawed Jaish-e-Muhammad was killed, along with two others, in a Daska mosque on Wednesday [October 11, 2023], police and intelligence agencies were quicker to react. Within 24 hours of the incident, they claimed to have busted a network involved in carrying out a vendetta for a 'rogue nation.'
"Even if the Punjab police chief, who made the announcement of the arrests, desisted from taking names, it did not take much imagination to conclude that it was India his finger was pointing to. Indian media have reported that the slain man, Mohammad Shahid Latif, was suspected by New Delhi of having facilitated the attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in 2016. However, there seems to be little evidence to substantiate this allegation, and no link was ever made public tying Latif to the Pathankot incident.
U.S. alleges Indian plot to kill U.S.-based Khalistani activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
"Indeed, the murders of Latif and the others before him would seem, on the face of it, to be part of an international campaign that also saw the high-profile killing of Sikh nationalist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, Canada, in June this year [2023]. The Canadian government has said it has evidence of Indian involvement in the murder; and now Pakistan is claiming the same.
"It would seem as if New Delhi wants anyone whom it suspects... [to have] played a role in any one of the nationalist movements active within the territories under its control killed. But India cannot go around murdering people in other countries with impunity. There must be severe consequences imposed on it. It is also pertinent to ask our own authorities how they could let so many individuals be murdered on Pakistani soil before a network apparently being run by an enemy power was finally busted.
"Pre-empting such attacks is a core task for counter-intelligence officials responsible for the nation's security, and as such, it is their responsibility to ensure that Pakistan's enemies do not use its soil to carry out vendetta killings. Nothing can be more embarrassing for them than the enemy managing to infiltrate the country while they are busy dealing with domestic issues they legally and technically have no business being involved in."
