Comment by Riaz Haq on May 6, 2024 at 7:58am

Dr. Audrey Truschke
@AudreyTruschke
Some truly eye-popping details here about the violent operations of Indian intelligence abroad under Hindu nationalist control.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/04/world/asia/canada-india-sikh-arr...

https://x.com/AudreyTruschke/status/1787489221797704170

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In a series of arrests that have escalated diplomatic tensions between Canada and India, Canadian authorities have detained three Indian nationals in connection with the assassination of a prominent Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, last year. These arrests have thrown a spotlight on the alleged involvement of India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in operations beyond its borders, leveraging criminal networks to achieve its objectives. The Canadian Royal Mounted Police (RCMP) have not dismissed the possibility of a connection between the accused and the government of India, raising serious questions about international law and sovereignty.

The reaction from India has been swift, with officials labeling the arrests as a 'political compulsion' on Canada's part, suggesting a complex interplay of international diplomacy and domestic politics. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged the fear and concern within Canada's Sikh community, emphasizing the importance of the rule of law in the ongoing investigation. This incident has not only strained the bilateral relations between the two countries but has also highlighted the murky world of international espionage and its intersections with criminal activities.

The case has brought to the fore long-standing accusations against RAW for its alleged tactics of engaging with criminal networks to conduct operations in South Asia, and potentially, as this case suggests, extending those operations into the West. The implications of such…

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 6, 2024 at 9:48am

Canadian Arrests Highlight Alleged Gang Role in India’s Intelligence Operations - The New York Times


https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/04/world/asia/canada-india-sikh-arr...

India’s external spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, or RAW, has long been suspected of tapping into criminal networks to carry out operations in its immediate neighborhood in South Asia while maintaining deniability.

Canada’s accusation, if proven, that India orchestrated the Nijjar killing — and a similar accusation made soon after by the United States in a different case — may suggest that RAW is now extending its playbook of working with criminals to carry out operations in Western countries, analysts said.

U.S. officials have produced strong evidence in their accusation that an agent of the Indian government participated in a foiled attempt to assassinate a dual American-Canadian citizen. And Canada and allied officials have maintained that Canada has evidence supporting Mr. Trudeau’s claim that Indian agents carried out Mr. Nijjar’s killing.

But the Canadian failure to reveal any evidence that India took part, nine months after Mr. Trudeau’s explosive allegation, leaves the killing of Mr. Nijjar in the realm of accusations and counter-accusation in what is a highly tense political environment in both countries, analysts said.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been flexing his muscles as a nationalist strongman, pitching himself during his ongoing campaign for a third-term in office as a protector of India who would go as far as it takes to target security threats.

During speeches, he has boasted about how his government eliminates enemies by “descending in their homes.” While he has made those references in relation to the country’s archenemy — Pakistan — right wing accounts on social media had celebrated the slaying of Mr. Nijjar in Canada as a similar reach of Mr. Modi’s long arm.

Mr. Trudeau, on the other hand, had been facing criticism of weakness in the face of Chinese election interference activities on Canadian soil, and his getting ahead of the Nijjar killing was seen as compensating for that.

Canadian police announced on Friday that they had arrested the three Indian men in Edmonton, Alberta, the same day and charged them with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the killing of Mr. Nijjar. The suspects had been living in Canada for three to five years but were not permanent residents of Canada, the police said.



The gang that the CBC reported that the hit-men are connected to is led by Lawrence Bishnoi, 31, who is accused of several cases of murder, extortion and narcotics trafficking. He has orchestrated much of it from an Indian jail, where he has been held since 2014. His members are seen as being behind the murder of a popular Punjabi rapper, and threats of attacks on Bollywood celebrities.



Indian security officials have frequently arrested criminals connected to Mr. Bishnoi, often with allegations that the gang’s network stretched as far as Canada and overlapped with those promoting from Canadian soil the cause of Khalistan, a once deeply violent separatist movement with the goal of carving out the Indian state of Punjab as an independent nation.

A large Sikh diaspora resides in Canada, many of them having migrated there after a violent and often indiscriminate crackdown by the Indian government in the 1980s against the movement for an independent Khalistan. While the cause has largely died down inside India, it continues to have supporters among some segments of the diaspora. The Indian government has accused Canada, and several other Western countries, of not doing enough to crack down on the separatists.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 22, 2024 at 8:49am

Dr. Audrey Truschke
@AudreyTruschke
Threatening family members to assassination plots.

Read every word to see how far Modi's India is going to repress its critics and how the Biden administration is allowing the targeting of US citizens and residents.

https://vox.com/world-politics/24160779/inside-indias-secret-campai... #India #BJP #Modi #India

https://x.com/AudreyTruschke/status/1793271160739615018

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India’s efforts include a handful of high-profile incidents, most notably an assassination plot against American and Canadian activists. But more commonly, India engages in subtle forms of harassment that fly under the public radar.

An American charity leader who spoke out on Indian human rights violations saw his Indian employees arrested en masse. An American journalist who worked on a documentary about India was put on a travel blacklist and deported. An American historian who studies 17th-century India received so many death threats that she could no longer speak without security. Even a member of Congress — and vocal critic of the Modi regime — said she was concerned about being banned from visiting her Indian parents.



“I’m always thinking about the impact on my family — for example, if there was some attempt to not allow me back into India,” says Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).

In some ways, the Indian campaign is more brazen than Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. While no evidence has emerged that Russia threatened harm against American citizens and their family members, India has been caught doing so repeatedly.

And while Russian involvement in the 2016 election swayed few votes, there’s good reason to believe India’s campaign is working as intended — muting stateside criticism of India’s autocratic turn under Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

An American academic warned me that they couldn’t speak openly about India out of concern for family. An American think tank expert described numerous examples of censorship and self-censorship at prominent US institutions. These two sources, and many others, would only share their personal stories with me anonymously. All were concerned about the consequences for their careers, their loved ones, or even themselves — and they weren’t alone.

“Indian Americans who are against the BJP, or oppose the BJP, have been intimidated and as a result routinely engage in self-censorship. I have heard them say as much to me,” says John Sifton, the Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “There are prominent Indian American intellectuals, writers, [and] celebrities who simply will not speak out against Modi because they are afraid that by doing so they will subject themselves to a torrent of online abuse and even death threats.”

As a result, one of the most important developments of our time — Modi pushing the world’s largest democracy toward an authoritarian future — is receiving far less scrutiny in the United States than it should, especially at a time when Modi is running for a historic third term.

India’s willingness to go after critics outside its borders — a practice political scientists call “transnational repression” — is a symptom of this democratic decline.

Most sources told me that Indian harassment of Americans began in earnest after Modi took office in 2014, with most reported incidents happening in the past several years (when the prime minister became more aggressively authoritarian at home). Modi, a member of a prominent Hindu supremacist group since he was 8 years old, seems to believe he can act on the world stage in the same way he behaves at home.



Despite the brazenness of India’s campaign — attacking Americans at home in a way that only the world’s worst authoritarian governments would dare — the Biden administration is putting little pressure on Modi to change his ways. Judging New Delhi too important in the fight against China, the US government has adopted its own unstated policy of avoiding fights with India over human rights and democracy.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 3, 2024 at 4:16pm

John Oliver on Narendra Modi: ‘India seems to be sliding toward authoritarianism’

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/jun/03/john-o...


“Over the course of Modi’s rise, he’s chosen to be strategically quiet about his pseudo-authoritarian, pro-Hindu vision of India,” Oliver explained. “But there’s been a noticeable shift in his rhetoric this election season” toward anti-Muslim statements, such as a recent campaign speech in which he falsely claimed that his rival party would redistribute wealth to Muslims and referred to Muslim citizens as “infiltrators”.

“That’s already ugly enough,” Oliver noted, “but it’s also coming at a time when Modi and his party have seemed increasingly comfortable threatening democratic institutions by, among other things, stifling political opposition and freedom of the press. In fact, on multiple fronts, India seems to be sliding toward authoritarianism.”


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Modi has built his popularity in part on infrastructure and food distribution programs, delivering grain in bags with his face on it. “Which feels a little egotistical,” Oliver deadpanned. “It would be like if Lyndon Johnson signed the Food Stamp Act of 1964 but insisted that the food stamps be rebranded as ‘Lyndon’s Lucky Yum-Yum Voucher’. Good program but I don’t know, man, maybe turn it down a notch.”

Modi especially likes to brag about the economy, which under his watch has become twice as big as it was, though Oliver noted that those numbers were suspect, and that Modi’s government had also changed the definition of poverty. “Anyone can get rid of all poverty if you just change the definition of poor people to something else,” Oliver quipped.

The economic gains have been widely unequal; by some estimates, about 1 million people now control about 80% of the country’s wealth. “And as they’ve gotten richer, much of the country has gotten poorer – even with all those bags of grain with his face on them, under Modi, the country has fallen in the Global Hunger Index, and now sits behind North Korea and war-torn Sudan,” Oliver said. “And you would think that all of this would be fertile ground for Modi’s critics to exploit, but it’s actually hard to do that in India.” Modi hasn’t held a press conference in India in 10 years of rule, and the interviews he does grant are, as Oliver put it, “the opposite of hard-hitting”. News networks critical of his government have faced police raids for tax evasion.

“Basically, if you criticize Modi, there’s a good chance that things are going to be very unpleasant for you,” Oliver said. “Meaningful criticism of Modi is scarce on TV in India.”

Oliver also surveyed the BJP’s work to suppress opposition; weeks before the election began, tax agencies froze an opposition party’s bank accounts, and the head of another opposition party was arrested. “Those could be more lucky, complete coincidences for Modi, except for the fact that over the years, multiple politicians who opposed the BJP have found themselves facing charges of fraud or financial malfeasance, only for those charges to suddenly stall or be dropped when they switch parties and join the BJP instead,” Oliver said. “In general, to put it mildly: it is good to be on Modi’s good side, and very, very bad to be on his bad side.”

That’s particularly true for the nearly 200 million Muslims in India, as Modi espouses the once fringe idea of Hindu supremacy in India, leading to an increase in anti-Muslim violence and destruction of Muslim sites and property colloquially referred to as “bulldozer justice”.

“With anti-Muslim hate speech and violence on the rise, it is no wonder many are feeling increasingly targeted, in incredibly grim ways,” Oliver said before a clip of a police officer kicking Muslim men as they knelt in prayer; another officer was arrested for killing three Muslims on a train, and praising Modi while standing over their bodies. “It’s worth remembering: that is not a bug of Modi’s leadership, it is a feature,” Oliver noted.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 3, 2024 at 6:36pm

John Oliver on Narendra Modi: ‘India seems to be sliding toward authoritarianism’

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/jun/03/john-o...


“But as an international community, it seems past time to stop the uncritical, fawning praise of a man who is, to put it mildly, a deeply complicated figure,” he concluded. “So maybe we could at least stop comparing him to Bruce Springsteen.”

“And when you talk about what he’s done for India, at least acknowledge that yes, he’s responsible for giving bags of grain to people, he’s also responsible for some getting sent bulldozers,” he added. “It should be possible to acknowledge the good things that Modi has managed to do for India, while also acknowledging that many Indians live in active fear of what he seems more than happy to represent.”


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John Oliver on Modi:


This video is banned in India. Please don’t share coz it will embarrass everyone from the govt to the Media


https://x.com/Azycontroll_/status/1797637824096936398

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 24, 2024 at 8:37am

Sikh assassinations: Are the US and Canada raising the heat on India? | Politics News | Al Jazeera


https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/24/sikh-assassinations-are-th...

But Canada is not the only country where the overseas actions of Indian security agencies are under scrutiny.

The Czech Republic has extradited Indian national Nikhil Gupta to the US, where prosecutors have accused him of involvement in an unsuccessful murder-for-hire plot to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

Gupta, 53, who was arrested last year in June by Czech authorities while travelling from India to Prague, reached the US on June 14.

Much like in the Nijjar case, the Indian government has sought to dissociate itself from the plot against Pannun. However, it has said it will formally investigate security concerns raised by Washington.

Last month, Washington said it was satisfied so far with India’s moves to ensure accountability in the alleged plots while adding that many steps still needed to be taken.

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 14, 2024 at 7:23pm

Ashok Swain
@ashoswai
Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau says Indian diplomats of the Modi regime, together with an Indian criminal gang, are engaged in murder & extortion of Canadians in Canada. When a criminal heads the government, it turns the government machinery to a criminal gang!

https://x.com/ashoswai/status/1845949810932596861

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Canada on Monday ordered six Indian diplomats to leave the country, including India’s top diplomat in Ottawa, Sanjay Kumar Verma, officials said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/10/14/canada-modi-sikhs-v...

The killing of a Sikh separatist in Canada last year was part of a broader campaign of violence against Indian dissidents directed by a senior official in the Indian government and an operative in the country’s spy agency, according to Canadian officials who cited intercepted Indian communications and other newly acquired information.

Canadian authorities have also identified at least six Indian diplomats serving in Canada who were directly involved in gathering detailed intelligence on Sikh separatists who were then killed, attacked or threatened by India’s criminal proxies, Canadian officials said.

Canada ordered all six of those diplomats to leave the country in notices that were sent early Monday, the officials said. Among them were India’s top diplomat in the country, Sanjay Kumar Verma, and its top consular official in Toronto, the officials said.



The Biden administration, which has cultivated closer ties with India, last year confronted Modi administration officials with intelligence that an officer in India’s Research and Analysis Wing, a spy service known as RAW, was behind an attempt to assassinate a Sikh separatist in New York — a failed plot with parallels to the Nijjar case in Canada. The Post identified the RAW officer as Vikram Yadav, though he was not named in a U.S. indictment accusing an alleged Indian drug trafficker of seeking to hire a hit man to carry out the killing.

Nijjar and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the target of the New York plot, were leaders of a movement that for decades has campaigned to carve out an independent Sikh state in northern India. The movement was marked by violent clashes in the 1980s, but has been relatively dormant since a crackdown led to a mass exodus of Sikhs to other countries.

Modi, who came to power as a champion of Hindu nationalism, has revived concerns about the supposed threat posed by Sikhs living abroad. Modi and other officials have frequently accused Canada, which has the world’s largest population of Sikhs outside India, of harboring terrorists.



Canadian officials said they only recently began to grasp the magnitude of the covert campaign of violence India has waged against Sikhs as new evidence emerged from an ongoing investigation of Nijjar’s killing that is led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police but has involved other agencies, as well as intelligence provided by the United States and other allies.

Officials said the investigation has uncovered evidence of Indian government involvement in home invasions, drive-by shootings, arson and at least one additional killing.

Officials cited the death of Sukhdool Singh, who was shot in Winnipeg on Sept. 20, 2023, less than a day after he was featured in a wanted list of gangsters posted on X by India’s National Investigation Agency. The killing came two days after Trudeau publicly accused India of killing Nijjar.

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 15, 2024 at 8:59am

Pravin Sawhney
@PravinSawhney
As the SCO meeting which begins in Islamabad today, three Pakistan's bilaterals to watch out for are with:
1. Russian 76 member strong delegation
2. 200 members strong Chinese delegation
3. with Iran delegation.
These bilaterals will likely have impact on Pakistan's sought Brics membership - at 16th Brics in Russia from Oct 22-24.

Pakistan's two big geopolitical advantages (if it can harness them) are:
A. It has developed close ties with two Great Powers (China & Russia) which matter most in Asia Pacific
B. It can play an important role in Middle East - when it is at brink of larger regional war.

India's minister
@DrSJaishankar
is expected to talk about terrorism & sovereignty- which given India's recent spat with Canada is not likely to sound credible!

https://x.com/PravinSawhney/status/1845996235762893255

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Foreign dignitaries arrive for SCO summit spadework

https://www.dawn.com/news/1865054

Informed sources told Dawn that a four-member delegation from India, 76 delegates from Russia, 15 representatives of China, a two-member team from Iran and a four-member delegation from Kyrgyzstan reached Islamabad on Sunday.

Seven delegates of SCO also arrived in the capital.


Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
Pakistan is honored to host the 23rd SCO Heads of Government Meeting in Islamabad from October 15th to 16th, reflecting its commitment to regional cooperation.

The summit will focus on enhancing regional cooperation, trade, and financial integrity among member states, significantly boosting Pakistan’s image and future prospects. By positioning Pakistan as a trade hub for Central Asia, the summit aims to promote economic integration, a digital economy and cultural exchanges, fostering regional prosperity and stability.

https://x.com/GovtofPakistan/status/1845693140369330493

Comment by Riaz Haq 6 hours ago

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.

Comment