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Moon Desk: Amid a long history of rouge acts of aggression, terrorism and preemptive assaults on Pakistan. Now India’s Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar committed another verbal attack on Pakistan as calling it “terroristan”. Speaking at a joint press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday alongside European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, Jaishankar said, “I’d like you to understand this is not a conflict between two states per se,” Jaishankar said.
“This is actually a response to the threat and the practice of terrorism. So, I would urge you to make it. Don’t think of it as India or Pakistan; think of it as India–Terroristan. You will then appreciate it,” he added. The remarks are among the strongest in recent months by a senior Indian official and come amid heightened diplomatic tensions. However, India has a long history of intervention, igniting armed conflict and even producing a shadow army during 1971 war.
India’s current Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has openly acknowledged the country’s policy of targeting peoples beyond its borders, reinforcing long-suspected claims of cross-border operations. In a TV interview, Singh stated, “If any terrorist tries to disturb India… and escapes to Pakistan, we will go there to kill him,” describing the strategy as approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The statement comes in the wake of a recent Guardian report about India’s involvement in up to 20 extrajudicial killings in Pakistan since 2020. While India’s Ministry of External Affairs has dismissed the report as “false and malicious propaganda,” Singh’s remarks appear to contradict that denial, casting new light on India’s covert terror doctrine.
On the other hand, The Indian agency RAW, was finally drawn out of shadows last year when it assassinated pro-Khalistan activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. Delhi was in denial – but not for long. The US ambassador in Ottawa was quick to confirm there was shared intelligence among the ‘Five Eyes’ partners that helped Canada unravel Nijjar’s murder mystery.
This was followed by another explosive revelation. The FBI thwarted an Indian plot to assassinate another pro-freedom Sikh leader on American soil.
It was learnt that the US informed some allies about the plot following Nijjar’s murder. Both former prime minister Justin Trudeau and Ex-president Joe Biden took up the blatant violation of sovereignty by Indian agents with Delhi at the top level.
Hate speech, minorities and Islamophobia
In March 2024, more than 20 UN experts signed a joint statement urging India to “end attacks against minorities” in the run-up to national elections.
Since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, India has seen numerous outbreaks of violence between majority Hindus and its 200-million-strong Muslim minority.
Pakistan’s irrefutable evidence
During a press conference last month in Rawalpindi, Director General ISPR Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry revealed that Indian army officers are sponsoring terror operations in Pakistan, supplying explosives, IEDs, and funds to militants targeting civilians and security forces. “This irrefutable evidence is just one small part of India’s state-sponsored terrorism,” Chaudhry said.
