Dr. M. Nafees Zakaria<\/p>\n
Terrorism is condemnable. Terrorism sponsored by a UN Member on the soil of another UN sovereign member is a punishable crime, whether it is seen under domestic law or International. When these terrorist acts are committed by a UN Member state on a community discriminated against for their belief, religion or culture with the aim of exterminating or terrorizing to deter or suppress them, or for causing displacement or mass exodus or crush their right to self-determination, then it falls in the domain of Crimes Against Humanity for which there are International Laws, Conventions and Judicial Mechanisms to call the perpetrators to account, irrespective of whether the sponsors are states or individual perpetrators.
\nIndia, the so-called world\u2019s largest democracy (mocker racy) has history of wars against people of various ethnic, religious and culture orientations including the Naxal-Maoist people, Sikh Community, peoples of the Seven states namely; Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland.
\nSuccessive Indian Governments have been endeavouring to suppress and terrorise these communities. Persecution of the people belonging to the identified states and Jammu & Kashmir have been going on during successive Indian governments but it became more pronounced making headlines in the international media constantly ever since BJP Government under Modi\u2019s leadership assumed the helm. Extrajudicial killings, public lynchings, Enforced disappearances, and demographic changes are the hallmarks of PM Modi\u2019s regime.
\nAssassination of Canadian Sikh Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, in June this year sent shock waves across the globe.
\nEarly this month, the US Department of Justice announced that it had foiled an alleged plot by an Indian official to assassinate a Sikh Activist and American Citizen in New York City.
\nCanadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) submitted a report in 2017 to warn the Canadian Government that Indian Intelligence Agency RAW\u2019s networks in Canada were planning attacks on Sikhs in Canada and influence elections in Canada with Indian diplomatic mission\u2019s facilitation. The Report identified two diplomats. CSIS had irrefutable evidence of Indian maneuvering in 2016 elections. But vested interest refrained Canadian Government from taking action. The Indian activities continued while the Canadian Government looked the other way.
\nHowever, the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar compelled PM Justin Trudeau to reveal before the parliament that at G-20 he had told US President Joe Biden and PM Modi of India that India had killed Nijjar. Trudeau then went public.
\nUS Government\u2019s reaction to the Indian involvement in the killing of Nijjar has been a muted one. Even after US Justice Department\u2019s unearthing of assassination plot and US Canada close working under 5 Eye Intelligence Mechanism, there had not been any reaction of consequence to India. USA had always envisioned India as a lynchpin of its policy towards Asia Pacific to counter the China\u2019s exponential economic rise as a challenger to the US dominance and Russian assertion of its military might. The USA\u2019s vested interest to court India as its proxy in the region of its two historical Great Game adversaries and challengers, United States has crossed all limits to favour India.
\nIt did not sanction India over purchase of S-400 missiles from Russia while it sanctioned the others for the same breach of the US sanctions Act called \u2018Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) of 2017.\u2019 The US also did not object to Indian overtures with Iran despite the US sanctions against Iran. The US has been massively assisting India to build its arms with technology transfer. The US has signed three foundational and strategically very sensitive agreements during 2016-2020, called LEMOA, COMCASA and BECA. The USA exercises double standards selectively. Besides India in Asia-Pacific, USA courts relations with Israel in view of its strategic interests in the oil rich Middle East. Currently, a case in point is American cruel bias against Palestine in the face of ongoing genocide by Israel in Gaza.
\nGiven the US influence over Australia and its practical demonstration on a number of occasions, it can\u2019t be ruled out that Australian discrimination against the Sikhs whereby it did not allow the Referendum for Khalistan, recently, could be under pressure of the US.
\nIndian condemnable act of assassination of Hardeep Singh achieved two objectives. One, messaging to the Sikhs pursuing Khalistan movement that they were not beyond India\u2019s reach regardless of their location. Two, embarrass Canada for rejecting Indian objections to allowing Khalistan Referendum in Canada in September 2022 and issuing adverse travel advisory for visitors to India. It was a message for the Canadian leadership that India could kill its citizens at will and couldn\u2019t do damn about it.
\nEven though India conspired to kill a Canadian citizen in their sovereign territory, the reaction was not close to what any other sovereign state would have taken. Lack of warranted reaction damaged Canada\u2019s reputation among its own citizens and expatriates\u2019 community.
\nA person none other than the US Secretary of Defence, Chuck Hagel, said in 2011 that: \u201cIndia Finances Trouble in Afghanistan\u2019s neighbouring country using Afghan soil.
\nHis statement was later authenticated by the voluntary statements made by Ehsanullah Ehsan, who was first the spokesperson for the terrorist organisations viz. TTP and later Jamaat ul Ahrar (JuA). Ehsan shared how Indian state agency RAW funded the two terrorist organisations for terrorist activities.
\nSikhs have ruled the part of the Sub-continent during 19th century under Maharaja Ranjit Singh and fought wars with the British Imperial Forces. It would not be beyond conception to think that the British adversarial past with the Sikh Empire and Hindus being Sikh Empire\u2019s subjects, devised the lasting problematic partition plan for 1947. Indian hostility against Sikh community is the most targeted one. The region and its people have been in turbulence ever since. Mistreatment of Sikhs as a minority, set an impetus to their separatist campaign called Khalistan Movement. 2023 witnessed overwhelming votes in a referendum in favour of an independent state for the Sikhs.
\nThere are numerous reports of inhuman treatment meted out to the Sikh minority in India including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other world human rights organisations. The assassination on foreign soil if goes unpunished it will set an ugly precedent that would render the UN and International Conventions irrelevant.
\nCourtesy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr. M. Nafees Zakaria Terrorism is condemnable. Terrorism sponsored by a UN Member on the soil of another UN sovereign member is a punishable crime, whether it is seen under domestic law or International. When these terrorist acts are committed by a UN Member state on a community discriminated against for their belief, religion or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13228],"class_list":{"0":"post-377957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-dr-m-nafees-zakaria"},"yoast_head":"\n