[The Two Amigos — NSAs Ajit Doval and Jake Sullivan]
All of a not so sudden, we have news of India covertly creating alleged mayhem all over the map — in Pakistan by supposedly bumping off a bunch of jihadi terrorists under the protection of Pakistan Army’s Inter Services Intelligence in Lahore and elsewhere, in Canada by eliminating a Khalistani terrorist, Harpreet Singh Nijjar, masquerading as a Gurdwara prabandak in Western Canada, in Australia where Mike Burgess, Director General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) charged an Indian “nest of spies” with trying to steal sensitive technology and, curiously, airport security protocols!
And the Washington Post kicked in with a story a couple of days back that named the officials allegedly involved in the plot to do away with the Khalistani fugitive and terrorist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun residing in the US. RAW chief Samant Goel, the story charged, supposedly ordered Pannun’s kill, and another RAW official, Vikram Yadav, ostensibly directed the operation in the field. More damagingly, the story — no doubt sourced from the White House and US intel agencies, hinted that Modi’s National Security Adviser, Ajit Doval, was in the know of this operation and, hence, was the top man in the chain and in, some sense, culpable. This story apparently sprang out of frustration at the Washington end about the lack of progress in the “meaningful” investigation the Indian government had promised the Biden Admin in late autumn last year.
But does Washington really expect Modi to offer up the heads of Messrs Doval, Goel, & Yadav to satisfy the US government’s metric for “meaningful” investigation? Really?!!
In a November 29, 2023, post on this blog (“The Pannun Affair reveals a penetrated Indian government communications system, and the atmnirbharta policy as a joke“), I had pointed to the possibility that the original info of Indian involvement in the Nijjar and Pannun cases may have been by an Indian intel/high government official turned by CIA, or owing to electronic intel intercepts. “It is curious the Modi regime has not denied an Indian government role in the conspiracy that Washington claims to have foiled to do in America a Nijjar to the Khalistani troublemaker Pannun,…leaving him free to do mischief in both countries, and in the UK”, I wrote in that post. “Why hasn’t Delhi demanded details from the US government as it did from Trudeau? Doesn’t GOI want to know just how the US became aware of this supposed plot, and through which channels, and why the Americans are so confident about their accusation? Where’s the evidence? And was it generated by NSA/CIA/DIA or some other American agency, or is it, as likely as not, another US mole at work in the Indian embassy on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, or out of New Delhi?”
“In the context of a thoroughly exposed and vulnerable Indian official system,” I added in that aforesaid post, “PMO was apprised by the US of what it had by way of irrefutable evidence. It may explain New Delhi’s cagey response, promising investigation and punitive action regarding the Pannun affair, something Trudeau was unable to draw from Delhi in the Nijjar case.”
Two questions arise: (1) Why did the Modi government simply not issue a denial and then stick by it thereafter? And (2) Was the “evidence” the US govt provided forensically parsed by Indian technical intel people to pinpoint who the original Indian source might be who may have alerted the US intel in the first place, and what sort of electronic means the US used to ascertain the sequence of events and Goel’s and Yadav’s roles in it?
The original mistake the Modi government made was not to stick with its first reaction, to the effect, that all such stories were a bit of hoo-ha and nonsense, and that India was a responsible state that did not indulge in such low jinks. This should have been the Indian government’s permanent position on all such issues. Except, with every Lahore hit, or some kill mission going askew (with the bomb going off near some compound wall, or something), there was Prime Minister Modi publicly glorying in the fact that “hamne ghus ke mara hai” — words the defence minister has used repeatedly to also crow about some successes on the other side of the Radcliffe Line.
Military (Uri, Balakot) and covert actions are thus conflated, and official Indian responsibility broadcast by the PM and his defence minister for intelligence actions in Pakistan, just to score some political points against the opposition parties at home. This is the height of amateurishness and the Indian national interest and Indian intelligence agencies may not survive it.
Doval or someone else should have advised Modiji and Rajnathji to not comment at all on such matters, and to apprise for them the high cost of their doing so. Because now, Pakistan, with good reason, is expected to present the assassinations of numerous Pakistani citizens in Pakistan as Indian terrorist acts to the Financial Action Task Force in Paris, and put India in the dock for terrorism! This is turning the tables.
The PM’s and Rajnath’s boasts also bolster the Canadian and US allegations of an official Indian hand in the killing of Nijjar, and of the attempted assassination of Pannun in the US.
No intel ops in a foreign land (including, neighbouring states), especially ones to get rid of enemies of the state, are ever owned up by any government. When some info about such ops does leak out in the public realm, a stiff upper lip is maintained, with only a ‘nonsense’ or ‘no comment’ on offer — always the only correct response. And should some foreign government make an issue of it, as Washington has done in the case of Pannun, the Indian government using the same official channel, should ask the US formally to investigate the assassination of, say, Dr Homi J Bhabha, the nuclear visionary, in the Air India Bombay-Geneva flight in February 1966 that heartlessly also killed the hundred odd innocent passengers also travelling in the Boeing aircraft, by a timed plastique explosive going off in the plane’s cargo hold. To repeat, this op was hands-on mass killing conducted by the CIA assistant head of clandestine operations, Robert Crowley (and so confessed by him in a book I have refrred to in an eearlier post).
The Pannun investigation, New Delhi should tell the Biden Admin in the plainest words, will proceed exactly in parallel with the Bhabha inquiry in Washington.
The Washington Post in its April 30 editorial harrumphed that “The United States needs stronger laws and other measures to fight transnational repression; Congress is considering legislation and should act. How the India case is handled will also send an important signal. If it turns out that India’s security officers plotted to murder on these shores and then escape accountability and punishment for doing so, others will be encouraged to kill with impunity. The United States cannot let this happen.”
In the above, replace in the text, India for the United States, and United States for India, and Parliament for Congress, and that should be the Indian government’s stand.
And, please Modiji, Rajnathji and all the other ji’s in the cabinet, who feel the urge rhetorically to beat up on Pakistan and otherwise to sound off in public on such issues — DON’T!! Think of something else to say!
Let RAW and other agencies continue doing what has always been done in the covert business of state since time immemorial. That’s what CIA, MI6, et al do. Enemies of India cannot be allowed to go scott free, or spend their retired lives unmolested in a foreign country on ill-gotten gains, epecially turncoats, who sold the country off for the proverbial pieces of silver. (Like Ravinder Singh, former head of counter-intel, RAW, last heard living in New York City — in Jackson Heights?).
Harsh punishment not meted out to informers, terrorists, etc. will only encourage more Indians in high positions, and other villains, to do the nation in.
The Indian government always has its tail between the legs, is diffident, when facing down the US and the West, and China. One of the reasons the Albanese government in Australia did not raise Cain over the “nest of spies” issue, is because Canberra is keen to have future military cooperation and stronger economic ties. The US is in no position to alienate India because without New Delhi’s central blocking role in the Indian Ocean, America’s ‘China containment’ strategy goes down the drain.
Stand up for India, Modiji. Jaishankar, et al, will do the same!
Security Wise 
And then we hear Goldy Brar shot dead in US, any chance if Canada/US gov involved in this?
@Vivek Jain- You are citing a fake news;
https://www.india.com/news/world/goldy-brar-suspected-mastermind-in-sidhu-moosewala-murder-not-dead-is-alive-usa-police-6898542/
Jackson heights lol so many desis, hard to catch.
hard to see that happening unless western action affect domestic politics neither the Janta cares nor leaders.
Mr. Karnad, I don’t agree with your assessment. As I have said during my interview (available on YouTube) that for the first time in 2014, India got a strong government.
The roles have been reversed and India under Modiji’s strong leadership is pursuing the policy of ‘nation first’ even if it involves assassinations in Western countries.
Look at how many assassinations Putin has carried out in practically every country of the world through Russian intelligence agents. Putin is feared greatly by the West.
Btw, the guy whom you mentioned is not Rajinder Singh but Ravinder Singh. We bumped him off a long time back in a staged car accident in US. I myself was the team leader of that operation.
lucky commando@ — Ravinder Singh, yes, thank you! Text corrected. Assuming you are who you claim you are, and have done what you say you have, Congratulations!
KGB never made any secret of doing away with the enemies of the Soviet state. Neither, I assume, does FSI under Putin. But the US and Western govts do make a fetish of freedom of expression, etc. where other countries are involved but say nothing about the assassinations they have routinely carried out all over the world of people the US govt has deemed dangerous to realisation of America’s goals. They, however, do it silently, No hulla-gulla, and certainly there’s never any chest thumping by any US president! India should retain this option, but don’t make a public song and dance about it.
@Mr. Karnad- It doesn’t matter if the government makes a song and dance about it. Why should India follow what the West does?
All Khalistanis in Western nation have gone into their rat holes following the killing of Nijjar and it’s just a matter of time before Pannun joins him under the ground.
Bengali@ — The West is not the precedent. Kautilya is, and that’s what he recommended — doing things QUIETLY (in his Arthashastra codicil)
What about French-speaking Quebec separatist leader Lucien Bouchard, who launched the last big referendum campaign for Quebec’s independence from Canada in 1995? Soon after launching his separatist campaign, he was mysteriously struck down with a case of Flesh-Eating bacteria, which crippled him and rendered him unable to walk. In my view, that was about as natural or as likely as a newly-declared opponent of Putin suddenly coming down with Polonium poisoning.
Well there is an issue here, Russians and Putin does not need any “HELP” from anyone else, except maybe some shirt buttons or trouser zippers, which they admittedly does not make. Also Russians are not usually standing in que before western embassies, looking for “JOB VISAS”. Well it wont take much long if Americans start some “Sanctions” to ruin the “Easter Egg”. Then I wont be that impressed with 2014+ argument, Even countries like BHutan, Maldives etc now are simply using the fear of the Dragon to get what they want from this place. And they are getting their way too. If you dont, Next day some “Chinese Spy-Ship” simply gets parked somewhere on their shore and the mega-maniac nation gets spooked to hilt….lol. As if Chinese can find out what no one else can with a small ship…
Forget the West and Russia. Saudi Arabian Prince openly got the dissident journalist Khassogi brutally murdered. What repercussions did it bring to the Saudi royals?
Bandar bin Sultan has oil!
@Karnad- Is Saudi Arabia the only nation with Oil? There are plenty of countries with oil reserves including the arch rivals of Saudi’s the Iranians.
True, but Tehran is less pliable.
One of my close friend friends used to work for RAW. He told me that Dawood Ibrahim has close ties with the Indian establishment. Truth indeed is stranger than fiction.
All these characters like Nijjar, Pannun etc. are harmless insects. What difference does it make if they keep shouting for Khalistan from abroad?
Will their hue and cry result in creation of Khalistan? Modi is a class 3 school dropout who forget reading a book cannot even read a page.
Doval has created monsters out of these mouses (so called Sikh separatists) to show his pseudo Deshbhakti.
He charges Modi government Crores for such useless assignment (getting people killed abroad) and spends a fraction of it while siphoning off the majority of these funds to Cayman Islands through the hedge fund business belonging to one of his sons.
@Lucky Commando- Pajjii tussii topp ho, India dii hope ho.
@Bharat Karnad- I don’t agree with your remark about Iran.
Iranian establishment is a bully just for domestic dissidents and women when it comes to geopolitics they are a big zero.
Mossad regularly keeps bumping off Iranian Generals and nuclear scientists and look at the response of the Iranian regime.
Recently they launched approximately 300 drones and missiles on Israel. None of which could hit any meaningful target.
Their whole nuclear program is a joke. Countries like North Korea and Pakistan have nuclear arsenal and Iranians are still working on it 😆
Chatur@ — It helped that Pakistan and N Korea got handed whole and ready nuclear weapons systems by China, for them to tinker with.
Why then the Iranians also got it from the Chinese or the Russians?
The ex army general Navrangi or whatever he is called released his book in December 2023.
He clearly says in his book that during the military confrontation with China, Rajnath Singh the defense minister after talking to Modi called him up and said “Jo ucheet samjho wohh karro” (do whatever you deem fit)
Since when has army started taking independent decisions in India? The aforementioned clearly implies that Modi didn’t want a fight with China that’s why he passed the buck to this General through Rajnath Singh.
Subramanian Swamy stated in one of his tweets in December 2023 that it means that Modi was compromised by the Chinese government during his numerous trips there starting from his stint as the Gujarat CM.
Sadly nobody in the opposition nor anyone in the media got this clear hint or probably they chickened out from cornering Modi because of their fear of CBI and ED.
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-protest-china-infra-development-shaksgam-valley-9303777/
Keep lodging your useless protests. Your P.M. is in our pockets. We will do what we please.
as vikram sood always says we(R&AW) r known by our failures. But Here they r singing songs about their successes.
very unprofessional (-_-)
probably writing script of [Ek tha tiger part-3] with lucky commando in supporting role
@Kunal Singh- I am no longer working with RAW and have the clearance from the highest level in India to talk about certain operations.
Americans provided Ravinder Singh a safe passage out of India. By eliminating him there we showed to the Yankees that Modiji means business when he says “humm ghaar maeyy ghusskarr marengaeyy”
This acts as a strong deterrent for future traitors as well so there’s nothing unprofessional in talking about certain successful operations.
This is the new India which Modiji has created. Political correctness be damned.
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/army-looks-at-creating-new-unit-to-play-role-of-adversary-in-wargames-9306540/
Army should train its soldiers in dandaa warfare. In future confrontations with PLA the Indian army can use its dandaa fighting skills to do “dandaa dandiyaa” with PLA.
There was a Bollywood song from last century, “Disco Dandiyaa”. It should be made mandatory watching for all Jawans and officers of the Indian army. This song can form the basis of “dandaa dandiyaa” training.
Another false flag operation by the Modi government;
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/5-soldiers-injured-militants-open-fire-security-vehicles-poonch-9307997/
Now they will do Balakot-2 drama and ensure a larger turnaround in the remaining 5 phases of Lok Sabha polls to get an overwhelming majority for the one and only Vishvguru.
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/canada-incidents-mostly-due-to-their-internal-politics-jaishankar-9308307/?utm_source=Taboola_Recirculation&utm_medium=RC&utm_campaign=IE
Yeah, I call Modi Boss, Boss D.K.