India: Officials from India have denied a media story that said the Indian government planned murders in Pakistan to eradicate terrorists residing abroad.
Sources familiar with the matter informed CNN-News18 that the article from The Guardian, a British daily, is deemed “false and fabricated.” They allege it is a deliberate attempt to tarnish the reputation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. These sources further accuse Pakistan’s notorious spy agency of orchestrating the assassinations.
They emphasized that India’s statement that “we will eliminate terrorists by entering their homes” only alludes to border tensions and the removal of terrorists who represent a threat to India’s sovereignty.
Citing unnamed intelligence officials, The Guardian reported nearly 20 killings in Pakistan since 2020, allegedly carried out by unidentified gunmen. The article highlighted a significant surge in assassinations in 2023, during which seven wanted terrorists, most of whom were sought by India, were reportedly killed in Pakistan by unknown individuals.
A Pakistani official informed The Guardian, stating, The strategy of Indian agents orchestrating killings in Pakistan wasn’t devised overnight. We believe they spent approximately two years establishing sleeper cells in the UAE, primarily responsible for carrying out these executions. Following this, we started observing numerous killings.'”
This strategy of Indian agents orchestrating killings in Pakistan didn’t emerge overnight. We suspect they’ve been diligently working for approximately two years to set up these sleeper cells in the UAE, primarily tasked with carrying out the executions. Subsequently, we started noticing a surge in such killings,” revealed a Pakistani official to The Guardian.
According to the report, analysts believe Pakistan has been hesitant to openly acknowledge the killings because many of the targets are recognized terrorists and affiliates of banned militant organizations that Islamabad has consistently denied harboring.
The Guardian also stated that India’s Ministry of External Affairs dismissed the accusations, labeling them as “false and malicious anti-India propaganda.” The report emphasized a statement by Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, who denied any involvement in targeted killings abroad, stating that such actions were “not the policy of the government of India.
Paramjit Singh Panjwar, the leader of the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), was assassinated in Lahore in May of last year. Zia-ur Rahman from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Mufti Qaiser Farooq, a close associate of LeT leader Hafiz Saeed, were killed in September. Shahid Latif, a terrorist from Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) who orchestrated the 2016 attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, was gunned down by unidentified attackers in a mosque in Daska town, Sialkot, Pakistan in October.
In November, Khawaja Shahid, one of the masterminds behind the 2018 terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sunjuwan, which resulted in the deaths of five Indian Army soldiers, along with LeT recruiter and commander Akram Khan Ghazi and Raheem Ullah Tariq, a close aide to the JeM chief, were all killed.
According to sources speaking to CNN-News18, the killings were allegedly carried out by the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) amidst restrictions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of efforts to eliminate terrorists.
The individuals cited above stated that no personnel from the Indian security establishment are assigned the responsibility of targeting and killing individuals across the border in civilian areas. No officer or agency is mandated to carry out such tasks. Pakistan, being a state that sponsors terrorism, engages in such activities.
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Furthermore, they emphasized their adherence to diplomatic resolutions. They reiterated their insistence that Dawood Ibrahim, a notorious mob boss and terrorist, should be extradited to India.