Sikh Assassinations: US Exposes Modi-Doval Hubris

Nov 29, 2023

The United States Department of Justice has filed an indictment alleging that an Indian agent hired an assassin to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist. It seems that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his National Security Advisor Ajit Doval now believe in their own hype about India being a superpower that can get away with murdering American citizens on the US soil.

Sikh Leaders: Gurpatwant Singh Pannun (L), Hardeep Singh Nijjar (Mid), Paramjeet Singh Panwar (R)

Earlier, a Canadian Sikh leader named Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered in June this year in British Columbia. The US DOJ believes that Nikhil Gupta was involved in both the killing in Canada of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and the attempted murder in New York, He is reported to have told an associate two days before the Nijjar’s slaying: “we are doing their job, brother. We are doing their New York [and] Canada [job],” according to the indictment. He lives in India and was arrested on the charges in the Czech Republic on June 30, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Gupta's plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was foiled in a US sting operation involving an informant who was being recruited by him to be the hitman.

“Modi and Doval have a much more macho approach to statecraft, including taking a more risky approach in intel operations in order to say, ‘Look at how tough I am in protecting India’s interests’,” said Paul McGarr, a specialist in South Asian security and intelligence at King's College London, according to France24 news agency. “RAW could do it before, but wouldn’t have conducted assassinations without Modi’s approval,” added McGarr. “RAW has got the political license to kill under Modi.”

The US DOJ decision to go public with charges came after President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and CIA Director William Burns warned India of potential consequences for the U.S.-India relationship over the actions, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Indian government is engaged in a worldwide assassination campaign targeting Sikhs and Kashmiris seen as "terrorists" by New Delhi, according to leaked documents of Pakistani intelligence agencies. Inside Pakistan, a spate of assassinations and other attacks in recent years targeted people alleged to be involved in Sikh and Kashmiri activism as well as Islamist militancy inside India, according to The Intercept. Last month, the Pakistani government arrested people it believes were involved in targeted killings of Sikhs and Kashmiris inside Pakistan.

Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said her country remained a “target of a series of targeted killings and espionage by (Indian Intelligence Agency) RAW". “In December last year, Pakistan released a comprehensive dossier providing concrete and irrefutable evidence of India’s involvement in the Lahore attack of June 2021. The attack was planned and executed by Indian intelligence,” she said, adding that in 2016, a high-ranking Indian military officer Kulbhushan Jadhav confessed to his involvement in directing, financing and executing terror and sabotage in Pakistan.

Narendra Modi has a long history of murdering minorities in his country. After the Gujarat anti-Muslim pogrom of 2002, Narendra Modi made the cover of India Today magazine with the caption "Hero of Hatred". Modi was denied a visa to visit the United States. The US visa ban on Modi was lifted in 2014 after he became prime minister. Since then, Narendra Modi's image has been rehabilitated by the West as the US and Western Europe seek allies in Asia to counter the rise of China. However, Modi's actions on the ground in India confirm that he remains "Hero of Hatred" and "Divider In Chief" at his core. A recent two-part BBC documentary explains this reality in significant detail. The first part focuses on the 2002 events in Gujarat when Modi as the state chief minister ordered the police to not stop the Hindu mobs murdering Muslims and burning their homes and businesses. The second part looks at Modi government's anti-Muslim policies, including the revocation of Kashmir's autonomy (article 370) and a new citizenship law (CAA 2019) that discriminates against Muslims. It shows the violent response by security forces to peaceful protests against the new laws, and interviews the family members of people who were killed in the 2020 Delhi riots orchestrated by Modi's allies.

Here's Indian National Security Advisor on how to use Taliban to attack Pakistan:

https://youtu.be/eYRuk8H5M9E?si=ZB1c7Dd8ntQdKeFi

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Excerpts of The Economist Magazine's review of Indian propaganda film "Dhurandhar":

Is Bollywood’s latest megahit propaganda for Narendra Modi?

https://www.economist.com/asia/2026/03/29/is-bollywoods-latest-mega...

"Is Bollywood's latest megahit propaganda for Narendra Modi? “Dhurandhar: The Revenge” portrays India extracting a price for Pakistani perfidy".

"A country that cannot pull off an assassination in Canada—Canada!—without getting rumbled is in “Dhurandhar” capable of retribution that makes Mossad look like LARPing teenagers."

“Some of the biggest cheers for “The Revenge” at the showing Banyan attended erupted not when patriotic dialogue is delivered, nor when Pakistanis are finished off in increasingly imaginative ways, nor even when the sneering terrorist has his brains blown out. The loudest cheers came when the screen lit up with news footage of Mr Modi, the bravest Hindu of all. But to dismiss “Dhurandhar” as propaganda is to miss something important. It did not become a monster hit by trying to convince viewers of an alternate reality. Its genius is to reflect the world many Indians, browbeaten by years of shrill pro-Modi messaging on TV news and social media, already believe to be real.”

Mar 30
Riaz Haq

Authorities Arrest Members of India-Based Gangs in Sweeping Crackdown - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/us/india-gang-arrests.html

The actions were announced in Los Angeles, and most of the new arrests were in California. One of the gangs is accused of assassinating a prominent Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia.

Federal officials announced a sweeping crackdown on Tuesday against a vast criminal network that preyed on Indian diaspora communities around the world and has been linked to theassassination of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia three years ago.

The authorities in Los Angeles said the action, “Operation Hard Ball,” was the result of a broad investigation into a dizzying array of drug smuggling, extortion and other crimes choreographed from India by jailed kingpins using international operatives and smuggled cellphones. It led to more than a dozen new arrests, most occurring in California.

Indictments unsealed in Los Angeles included charges against more than three dozen people — some already in prison — including Lawrence Bishnoi, 33, a convicted gang leader who has been behind bars in India for more than a decade, and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, 38, an ex-associate of Mr. Bishnoi’s who became a rival and, the authorities say, founded his own criminal enterprise in India’s Punjab state.

Other defendants were accused of supporting the criminal network by smuggling guns and narcotics along long-haul trucking routes on the West Coast between Canada and Mexico. Several of the defendants are truckers, federal officials said.

Patrick Grandy, the assistant director in charge of the F.B.I.’s Los Angeles field office, said that 11 people were arrested in California, one in Indiana, one in Georgia, one in Spain and three in Vancouver, British Columbia. Several others facing charges were already in custody, but the authorities were still searching for additional gang members who were indicted.

The arrests, he said, dismantled vast criminal organizations that had “terrorized families, exploited communities and stolen lives through ruthless acts of violence in the United States and abroad.”

“They prey on people here in the U.S. who still have ties back in India,” said Bill Essayli, the top prosecutor in the Los Angeles-based U.S. attorney’s office. One of the defendants, he said, was a police chief in India who was accused of participating in a scheme to extort $400,000 from a Los Angeles family by falsely charging their relatives in India with murder until they agreed to pay.

Jul 8
Riaz Haq

Dan Stanton
@1DanStanton
“A former senior CSIS intelligence officer warned U.S. congressional representatives and staff in Washington Tuesday that foreign states such as India are increasingly using transnational criminal groups …”

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ex-csis-officer-brie...

https://x.com/1DanStanton/status/2077357413875974496?s=20

Ex-CSIS officer briefs U.S. congressional staff on India and transnational crime

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Dan Stanton
@1DanStanton
« Documents speak of him having a global footprint, including a six-month visa for Switzerland, real estate deals in Dubai, travels through Asia and Europe, and trips to Los Angeles and New York. »

https://x.com/1DanStanton/status/1941565270092546369?s=20
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CSIS Public Report 2024

https://www.canada.ca/en/security-intelligence-service/corporate/pu...

India
As PIFI began its first phase of public hearings in March 2024, the extent of the Government of India’s involvement in foreign interference became clearer. Indian officials, including their Canada-based proxy agents, engage in a range of activities that seek to influence Canadian communities and politicians. When these activities are deceptive, clandestine or threatening, they are deemed to be foreign interference. These activities attempt to steer Canada’s positions into alignment with India’s interests on key issues, particularly with respect to how the Indian government perceives Canada-based supporters of an independent homeland that they call Khalistan.

With the re-election of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s political course will be a continuation of a Hindu-nationalist policy agenda that has been implemented since Prime Minister Modi was first elected in 2014. Prime Minister Modi and his core ministers and advisers are keen to build India’s global influence and counter any activity they consider as ‘anti-India,’ at home or abroad, in the name of domestic stability and prosperity. With that considered, there is a long history of India arguing that Canada is a haven for ‘anti-India’ activity, with the separatist Khalistan movement being a particular focus of India’s concern, which is rooted in the aftermath of the 1985 Air India bombing and subsequent terrorist activity in India.

The Government of Canada’s investigation into the 2023 killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar continued in 2024. Four individuals were arrested in May 2024 and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Criminal proceedings are ongoing. In mid-October, as part of ongoing RCMP investigations, the RCMP announced that evidence pointed to a link between agents of the Government of India and criminal networks to sow violent activity in South Asian communities in Canada. On October 14, Canada, in the interests of public safety, expelled six Indian diplomats and consular officials in order to disrupt this network. Links between the Government of India and the Nijjar murder signals a significant escalation in India’s repression efforts against the Khalistan movement and a clear intent to target individuals in North America.

As PIFI reached the end of its public hearings and South Asian communities in Canada expressed concerns over Government of India pressure tactics and targeting, CSIS noted that this form of foreign interference, called transnational repression, plays a central role in India’s activity in Canada. Transnational repression is a well-established tactic for foreign governments to exploit communities they view as their ethnic populations.

Canada must remain vigilant about continued foreign interference conducted by the Government of India, not only within ethnic, religious and cultural communities but also in Canada’s political system. CSIS will continue to observe and assess the nature and extent of India’s activities in Canada.

Jul 15

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Sikh Assassinations: US Exposes Modi-Doval Hubris

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