A story in The Guardian on April 5th stated that the Indian government has given the order to kill many terrorists in Pakistan. The report, which was based on unnamed Pakistani “sources,” was intended to criticise the Modi government and accuse it of engaging in “extra-territorial killings.” However, by asserting that the government is combating terrorists even abroad, the report ended up arming the Modi administration and the BJP.
Propagandist Hannah Ellis-Petersen’s article was rife with mistakes, casting doubt on the caliber of the research that went into it. Although the “allegation” that the Modi government executed terrorists in Pakistan is not unfounded, the Guardian’s assertions are unsupported by any evidence, and the article’s whole premise rests on unnamed “Indian and Pakistani intelligence operatives” who supposedly communicated with the publication.
According to the article, R&AW (spelled Raw erroneously by the Guardian) was motivated to assassinate adversaries overseas following the murder of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey. An unnamed Indian source is quoted in the paper as saying, “A few months after Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, there was a discussion among the prime minister’s office’s top intelligence brass about what lessons could be drawn from the case. In a discussion, a senior commander remarked, “If the Saudis can accomplish this, why can’t we?”
The study also mentioned how effective the Saudi actions were. In addition to eliminating your adversary, you also send a frightening message and warning to those scheming against you. This is what all intelligence services have been doing. Its nation cannot be powerful if we do not use force against its adversaries.
However, the whole argument demonstrates that the article is a work of fiction. This is the explanation.
The article discusses India’s assassination of terrorists in Pakistan; however, Jamal Khashoggi was a journalist who harshly criticised the Saudi government, not a terrorist. Most importantly, he was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, demonstrating beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Saudi government was responsible for his death.
First off, there is no proof that the Indian government has taken such drastic measures against journalists who criticise the government, despite allegations that it is responsible for the unexplained killing of terrorists in Pakistan. In actuality, dozens of journalists have connections to adversaries in India, such as George Soros, who fearlessly criticises the Modi administration regularly. That India will draw inspiration from the killing of a journalist is, therefore, utterly ludicrous.
More crucially, it was evident that Saudi government agents were responsible for the murder when Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated on October 2, 2018, inside the Saudi consulate—erroneously named the Saudi Embassy by the Guardian report. Following the journalist’s death, the Saudi officials dismembered the body, wrapped it in plastic, and placed it inside luggage that was removed from the consulate.
When Turkey released audio recordings of Jamal and the Saudi hit team inside the consulate office, it exposed the Saudi government’s initial denial that he was slain there. At first, Turkey maintained that the recordings had come from Khashoggi’s Apple Watch, claiming that he had activated recording while entering the consulate and subsequently transferred the video clips to his phone and iCloud.
Experts had ruled out this option, though, and later it was established that Turkey had bugged the Saudi consulate because audio recordings of talks between Saudi operatives before Jamal entered the premises were also made public. It is no secret that host nations frequently bug embassies and consulates because these establishments serve as the headquarters for their respective nations’ intelligence services. Consequently, even if Saudi Arabia may have wanted to keep it a secret, the killing of Jamal Khashoggi was not a covert operation. A Saudi hit team operating under the direction of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman nearly killed him in broad daylight on a campus where the host country was present.
Furthermore, it is wholly untrue that one officer claimed that Jamal Khashoggi’s murder was “very effective.” The murder was strongly denounced worldwide, and the US had nearly imposed sanctions on Saudi Arabia for it. And no, not all intelligence services are assassinating journalists in foreign embassies; this was a singular incident that is unlikely to happen again in the foreseeable future.
Although intelligence authorities would support carrying out assassination operations abroad, they are not likely to propose an operation akin to that of Jamal Khashoggi. Instead of a covert assassination by an intelligence service, it was more akin to a mobster murdering his adversary in his den.
The assertion that this murder served as motivation for the killing of terrorists in Pakistan by R&AW officials in India is, therefore, totally baseless. Given the likelihood, no Jihadi terrorist will likely target India’s diplomatic missions in Pakistan, making it difficult for Indian operatives to assassinate them. Furthermore, Pakistan’s ISI is undoubtedly keeping a close eye on the Indian High Commission in Islamabad and other diplomatic locations in Pakistan; thus, it is impossible to carry out a “secret killing” there.
The Indian government has refuted any orders to kill anyone anywhere in the world. Nevertheless, the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi cannot serve as a model for agencies, even if they so desire. Nations all over the world carry out such killings; they were most prevalent during the Cold War, when the US and Russia targeted their rivals abroad. Israel has also been reported to have carried out similar operations.
As a result, rather than looking into the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, Indian officials would research similar operations carried out by Israel, Russia, the United States, and other nations. This demonstrates that the entire Guardian piece is a work of fiction.
Furthermore, the report purports to have spoken with two Indian intelligence operatives who divulged all of India’s dark secrets. Anti-India propagandist Hannah Ellis-Petersen, Aakash Hassan, and Pakistani “journalist” Shah Meer Baloch wrote the piece, and it is highly doubtful that a legitimate Indian intelligence officer will speak with them and divulge information about India’s purported murder missions in Pakistan.
The government of Narendra Modi has a fantastic track record of maintaining secrecy since taking office in 2014. Formerly, the media would frequently report on impending government decisions, but under the NDA government, these “leaks” have entirely ceased. Before the government announced demonetisation, the repeal of Article 370, the COVID-19 lockdown, the Balakot airstrikes, and many other such moves, the media received no warning.
Any talk about ordering a kill in a foreign nation will be much more covert and known only to a tiny group of chosen individuals. It is, therefore, extremely improbable, if not impossible, that the journalists for The Guardian were privy to the discussions Indian intelligence officers had about eradicating terrorists in Pakistan.
Consequently, even if the government has denied that India had anything to do with the killing of some terrorists in Pakistan, the Guardian piece provides no complex data to support its assertions. The report is probably a work of fiction since it presents assertions, conjectures, and unverified presumptions as reality.
