The foreign ministry has denied allegations made in The Guardian accusing India of carrying out assassinations in Pakistan to eliminate terrorists. The ministry has termed it as “false and malicious anti-India propaganda”.
The response comes at a time when there have been allegations made against the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) of carrying out 20 killings in Pakistan since 2020 after the Pulwama attack.
The Guardian report mentions that it is based on evidence supplied by Pakistan and is based on interviews with intelligence officials from both sides of the border.
The report quoted an unnamed Indian official, saying that the killings have drawn from Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and Russia’s KGB — which have been linked to extrajudicial killings on foreign soil.
The Pakistani authorities in the report have produced documents about some of the killings, which have been carried out by Indian intelligence sleeper cells in the United Arab Emirates.
An unnamed R&AW official quoted in the report has said that the killings were probably executed by Pakistan, a sentiment which was shared by others in India.
Separately, Canada and the US have both accused India of being involved in assassinations on foreign soil.
Last year, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau in Parliament claimed that his government had “credible evidence” of Indian involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar – a Canadian citizen and wanted terrorist in India, who was shot outside a gurdwara in Canada.
Later, US officials said that they had foiled an attempt to kill another Khalistani separatist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. The Indian government has said that it had examined US inputs on the “nexus between organised criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others” amid the allegations.
According to media reports, the Indian officials have told the US that its investigations have found the involvement of a rogue official, who was no longer involved with the agency.
