RAW's killing spree
UN rights experts are the latest group to sound the alarm over India's audacious campaign to assassinate prominent dissidents abroad. In a letter, five UN special rapporteurs have urged Canada to take "all feasible measures" to protect Sikh activist Moninder Singh, a Canadian national who has received four "duty to warn" notices from Canadian authorities about credible and imminent threats to his life. The letter says the threats "fall within a broader pattern of transnational repression by Indian authorities against Sikh activists in different countries, including Canada". But what may make this particular case worse is that the threats against Moninder extended to include his wife and two children. This is a dramatic escalation from other recent assassination attempts where Indian intelligence ties were suspected or proven.
The modus operandi is mostly unchanged from at least 2023, when Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Sikh separatist and friend of Moninder, was gunned down outside a Gurdwara in Western Canada. Nijjar has also received several credible threats and was warned by Canadian authorities. Canada's then-prime minister publicly accused India of involvement, as did Canadian intelligence officials. Across the border, US prosecutors charged Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi with orchestrating Nijjar's killing. Bishnoi, who is in jail, has been accused of working with India's ruling BJP in return for preferential treatment. In another case, an Indian man pleaded guilty to orchestrating a failed assassination plot against a Sikh separatist in New York - a plot US officials say was tied to the Indian government.
But New Delhi continues to deny its role, and the country's strategic importance to the West as a counterbalance to China gives it enough value to get a virtual clean chit. Indeed, Canada's new Prime Minister Mark Carney has downplayed Indian terrorism in pursuit of increased trade. Several other countries have also chosen to stay quiet instead of poking the bear. But the world must act now to send India a message that no state is above international law.