India's ugly acts

India is once again in the dock as allegations of extra-territorial killings come under investigation. The confession from Nikhil Gupta in a court in New York for conspiring and collaborating with Indian authorities to kill a Sikh dissident leader has thickened the plot. The culprit was arrested from Czech Republic in 2024 and subsequently extradited to the US to stand trial for plotting against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US resident and dual US-Canadian citizen.

While Singh was an ardent supporter of an independent Sikh state in northern India and campaigned for it in the US, Delhi hired the services of Gupta, a mercenary, for exterminating him. Gupta's pleading guilty on all the counts of "murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering" is, indeed, an indictment of the BJP-Hindutva dispensation in India. Authorities and the learned jury must minutely probe into circumstantial evidence, along with the geopolitical motives underlying the allegations against India, particularly in light of claims of offshore misadventures. The charge-sheet is too damning to be set aside, and it does not merely pertain to Gurpatwant Singh's murder.

Before this, Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in Canada's British Columbia in June 2023, and India has time and again been accused of plotting assassinations targeting individuals in the US. The State Department is on record saying that Indian sleuths were allegedly involved in two attempts of murder on dissident Indians. This is tantamount to a violation of interstate diplomatic protocols. Similarly, Australia came out with its own findings by stating that there was an attempt to steal its defence secrets and coerce Indian expatriates.

Last but not least, the daredevil killing of more than 20 Pakistanis, a fact admitted by India's defence minister, makes the equation horrendous.

India's gimmick to hide its undiplomatic ventures and extra-territorial political ambitions under the guise of its economic clout is unacceptable. Major Powers' must nail down such a tendency, and should not to be seen appeasing Delhi for geo-economics considerations. India's hegemonic designs are not a threat to neighbours alone, but also to entities across the Atlantic and Down Under.