(Web Desk) – Giving further weight to Islamabad’s allegations of India’s sophisticated and sinister campaign of extraterritorial and extrajudicial killings inside Pakistan, a leading British publication has revealed that the Indian prime minister, who directly controls the Indian spy agency, ordered assassinations on Pakistan’s soil.
Citing both Indian and Pakistani intelligence operatives, The Guardian states in the report that the Indian government “assassinated individuals in Pakistan”. Delhi has implemented a policy of targeting those it considers hostile to India, it adds.
The report notes that Indian agents were behind the killings of at least 20 individuals inside Pakistan since 2020.
The report credits Indian intelligence sleeper-cells for the surge in killings in Pakistan in 2023, adding that these deaths were orchestrated by Indian intelligence sleeper-cells.
Back in January, Pakistan’s Foreign Office alleged that Islamabad had credible evidence linking Indian agents to the assassination of two Pakistani nationals, Shahid Latif and Muhammad Riaz, on Pakistani soil.
“These are killings-for-hire cases involving a sophisticated international setup spread over multiple jurisdictions,” Foreign Secretary Syrus Sajjad Qazi had told a press briefing in Islamabad.
Last year, Canada and the United States levelled similar allegations against India, publicly accusing New Delhi of involvement in the murders of dissident figures including a Sikh activist in Canada and of a botched assassination attempt on another Sikh in the US.
According to the report, India’s spy agency Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) allegedly began to carry out assassinations abroad as part of an emboldened approach to national security following the Pulwama attack in 2019 which saw 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers dead.
“After the Pulwama attack, the approach changed to target the elements outside the country before they are able to launch an attack or create any disturbance,” the report states, citing an Indian intelligence operative.
The operative tells The Guardian that India had drawn inspiration from Israel’s Mossad and Russia’s KGB, the two spy agencies which have been linked to extrajudicial killings on foreign soil.
“We suspect New Delhi’s involvement in up to 20 killings since 2020 on our soil,” the report adds, quoting operatives from two Pakistani intelligence agencies.
A significant increase was witnessed in targeted killings last year, intelligence sources said, accusing India of shooting 15 people dead at a close range.