Indian govt behind killing of wanted terrorists on Pak soil, claims renowned international newspaper

New Delhi: The Indian government got ‘individuals’ killed in Pakistan as part of Delhi’s larger strategy to eliminate wanted terrorists living on foreign soil, ‘The Guardian’, a renowned global newspaper, claimed in a report on Thursday quoting some “intelligence operatives of India and Pakistan”.

The London-based daily claims to have some documents that “shed light on how India’s foreign intelligence agency allegedly carried out operations to eliminate the individuals abroad”.

The report says that India carried out these operations “as part of an emboldened approach to national security after 2019”.

The report comes amid allegations that India is targeting individuals whom it considers hostile to it.

According to the report, the fresh claims relate to almost 20 killings since 2020 which have been carried out by unknown gunmen in Pakistan.

'The Guardian' report says, “While India has previously been unofficially linked to the deaths, this is the first time Indian intelligence personnel have discussed the alleged operations in Pakistan, and detailed documentation has been seen alleging R&AW‘s direct involvement in the assassinations”.

The fresh allegations refer to those charged with violent terror offences.

When Muhammad Riaz and Shahid Latif were gunned down in 2023 on Pakistan soil, Islamabad had accused India’s intelligence agency of being behind the killings.

New Delhi was then quick to dismiss the allegations, calling them "malicious anti-India propaganda".

Referring to the details shared by the Pakistani investigators, the London-based newspaper said that “these deaths were orchestrated by Indian intelligence sleeper cells, mostly operating out of the United Arab Emirates".

“The rise in killings in 2023 was credited to the increased activity of these cells, which are accused of paying millions of rupees to local criminals or poor Pakistanis to carry out the assassinations.”

According to the report, “Indian agents also allegedly recruited jihadists to carry out the shootings.”

Similarly, the report says quoting two Indian intelligence officers that the spy agency’s action was triggered by the Pulwama attack in 2019, which was perpetrated by the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The report also says that “after Pulwama, the approach changed to target the elements outside the country before they are able to launch an attack or create any disturbance".

Quoting one Indian intelligence operative, the report says, “We could not stop the attacks because ultimately their safe havens were in Pakistan, so we had to get to the source.”

The Guardian also says that in response to its queries, the Ministry of External Affairs denied all the allegations, reiterating an earlier statement that they were “false and malicious anti-India propaganda”.

The ministry emphasised a previous denial made by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar that targeted killings in other countries were “not the government of India’s policy”.

According to the report, an R&AW handler allegedly paid for information on Zahid Akhund, an alias for the convicted Kashmiri terrorist Zahoor Mistry who was involved in the hijacking of an Air India flight.

“Millions of rupees were then allegedly paid to Afghan nationals to carry out the shooting in Karachi in March 2022. They fled over the border but their handlers were later arrested by Pakistani security agencies,” says the report.

Jaish-e-Mohammed commander Shahid Latif was killed on Pakistan soil.

The report says that Pakistani investigators found that the man had allegedly been paid 1.5 million Pakistani rupees (£4,000) by an undercover Indian agent to track down Latif and later was promised 15 million Pakistani rupees and his own catering company in the UAE if he carried out the killing.

The young man shot Latif dead at a mosque in Sialkot, but was arrested soon after, along with his accomplices, says the report.

The killings of Bashir Ahmad Peer, commander of the militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, and Saleem Rehmani, who was on India’s most-wanted list, were also allegedly planned out of the UAE, with transaction receipts from Dubai appearing to show payments of millions of rupees to the killers, says the report.