US India relations

एक भारतीय नागरिक के खिलाफ अमेरिकी अभियोग के प्रकरण का स्थायी प्रभाव उस छवि पर पड़ेगा जिसे भारत प्रदर्शित करना चाहता है

दुनिया के लिए

The recent publication of a United States Department of Justice indictment अभियोग  

against an Indian national for targeting wanted Khalistani separatists in North America, at the behest of a government official who may or may not have been acting alone, 

is as yet an unproven allegation that must stand trial, but is one that has nonetheless cast a dark shadow on New Delhi’s credibility in terms of both covert capacity and public messaging, which must be addressed.

Other operations in the limelight

number of intelligence operations that have been challenged in courts in other friendly countries in recent years:

1  forcible return of a United Arab Emirates princess, Latifah, by the Indian Coast Guard in international waters in 2018 that has been criticised by a court in the United Kingdom, 

2 “attempted kidnap” of businessman-on-the-run Mehul Choksi from Antigua to Dominica by British nationals alleged to have been working for Indian agencies in 2021, 

3  conviction of eight former Indian naval officers in Qatar for espionage, which is now in appeal. 

Kulbhushan Jadhav

While the extra-judicial military court trial against former Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav in Pakistan since 2016 has been challenged by India at the International Court of Justice (ICJ)

the fact that he was operating his business from Iran, a friendly neighbour, has no doubt been noted. 

 list of alleged operations against wanted Khalistani and Pakistani

1 operatives not just in Pakistan but also in Nepal, Italy, the United Kingdom and Thailand, has been hailed in the media as proof of the Indian security establishment’s global reach.

2  government has so far not accepted that it ordered any of these operations, but is not averse प्रतिकूल  to the larger narrative that security agencies have been “empowered” to carry them out.

conspiracy to murder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York and canada cases

 1  government must engage with the troubling questions  the latest allegations — by the U.S. of a conspiracy to murder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York, 

2 This also indicates a link to the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, and the direct allegation by Canada, made by its Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the Nijjar killing.

3 In american case

Nikhil Gupta, who was allegedly directed by a senior government intelligence official, 

and the other carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration, to entrap / catch him by providing an undercover officer to him as the hitman. 

4 U.S. government did not share all that it knew with India questions the claims made otherwise that the two countries have, between them, reached the pinnacle of security cooperation this year

तथ्य यह है कि अमेरिकी सरकार ने जो कुछ भी वह जानती थी उसे भारत के साथ साझा नहीं किया,  किए गए दावों पर सवाल उठता है कि दोनों देश, उनके बीच, सुरक्षा सहयोग के शिखर पर पहुंच गए हैं .

5  To not have shared them even when Mr. Trudeau made his statement in Parliament

 might have spared बख्शा  New Delhi the blushes  / (लज्‍जा या झेंप से) मुख पर लाली छा जाना when the details of the U.S. indictment were published.

6 Instead, despite two meetings between U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 

four between Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 

and several between National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and his U.S. counterpart NSA Jake Sullivan, as well as Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Intelligence chiefs, 

the U.S. appears to have cautioned आगाह  India, but not revealed the full extent of information it had gathered.

Trust is still an issue

1 curbing their activities

For the U.S., it is also obvious that it does not trust the information India has shared on Mr. Pannun, Nijjar and the Khalistani separatist movement, 

2 and hence is more focuse on curbing their activities.

3 The actions hark back to the nature of intelligence sharing in 2008, when the U.S. warned India about the impending 26/11 terror threat (November 2008 Mumbai attacks), but did not divulge that the source of the information was Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Coleman Headley, who even re-entered India with another diabolical plan in 2009. 

ये कार्रवाइयां 2008 में खुफिया जानकारी साझा करने की प्रकृति की याद दिलाती हैं, जब अमेरिका ने भारत को आसन्न 26/11 आतंकी खतरे (नवंबर 2008 मुंबई हमले) के बारे में चेतावनी दी थी, लेकिन यह नहीं बताया कि जानकारी का स्रोत लश्कर-ए-तैयबा  डेविड कोलमैन हेडली ऑपरेटिव था ,

जिसने 2009 में एक और शैतानी योजना के साथ भारत में दोबारा प्रवेश किया।

4 After the U.S. arrested Headley, it entered a plea bargain, that meant the man who decided the targets and planned the attacks to precision could never be brought to justice in India,

 and the government was forced to take his testimony via video-camera for the trial.

अमेरिका द्वारा हेडली को गिरफ्तार करने के बाद, उसने एक प्ली बार्गेन में प्रवेश किया, जिसका मतलब था कि जिस व्यक्ति ने लक्ष्य तय किए और हमलों की सटीक योजना बनाई, उसे भारत में कभी भी न्याय के कटघरे में नहीं लाया जा सकता था, और सरकार को वीडियो-कैमरे के माध्यम से उसकी गवाही  परीक्षण लेने के लिए मजबूर किया गया था।।

South Block 

By extension, South Block must also look at the impact of its actions among western allies including the “Five Eyes” intelligence partnership (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.).

double standard in its international engagements 

1  By rejecting Canadian allegations , expelling diplomats and suspending visas, while accepting the U.S.’s allegations more calmly and setting up a high-level inquiry to investigate them, New Delhi has demonstrated a double standard in its international engagements. 

2 The difference between India’s reactions to Khalistani protests, and the attempted firebombing of the San Francisco consulate, to protests in the U.K., Australia and Canada is also stark: 

while their envoys have been summoned and Mr. Modi has publicly raised the Khalistan issue and protection of Indian-origin minorities with their leaders,

 3 there is a well-recorded double standard from the West when it comes to extra-judicial covert operations and assassinations — the CIA, MI6 and Mossad 

 all Five Eye nations including New Zealand have issued statements criticising India for its actions against Canada.

Impact on the neighbourhood

 1 India must address the impact of the case on the neighbourhood.

2  Countries such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh stood with India on the Canada issue, 

 3 as  U.S. indictment are revealed, South Asian capitals, and not just Islamabad, will be studying the footprint of Indian agencies in their countries as well. 

South Block and its embassies in the neighbourhood will have to go the extra mile to assure the neighbours, especially in Kathmandu, Dhaka, Male and Colombo, where reports about India’s “hand” in domestic politics is often discussed in exaggerated / over  tones.

Eventually, the lasting impact of the episode will lie in the image India wishes to project to the world — as a “hard power” 

that is willing to risk international ire and ties in pursuing those it considers a threat in any corner of the world in any manner it deems fit.

 Or that of an adherent to international law that builds its case through its diplomats, turning global opinion in its favour to achieve its ends, albeit at the risk of being seen as a “soft power”. 

The Ministry of External Affairs has said categorically that covert, extra-judicial assassinations are not this government’s policy and that the allegations will be investigated. A deeper investigation would reveal whether India’s actions align with its values and interests.

विदेश मंत्रालय ने स्पष्ट रूप से कहा है कि गुप्त, न्यायेतर हत्याएं इस सरकार की नीति नहीं हैं और आरोपों की जांच की जाएगी। गहन जांच से पता चलेगा कि भारत के कार्य उसके मूल्यों और हितों के अनुरूप हैं या नहीं।

Source the hindu