The Indian government is accountable to the people of India, and should not feel obligated to adhere to rules set by the US if doing so compromises India’s sovereignty and national security.
In my article, “Pannun Assassination Plot and India-US Relations”, published in The Sunday Guardian in December 2023, I wrote: “Although there is a grudging acceptance that the Modi-led NDA will win a third term, if it manages 40-50 fewer seats than the current tally, it will be a desirable outcome for the West as it will weaken Modi.” Therefore, the recent attack by America+ on India and the Narendra Modi government, right after a strong performance of the BJP in the Haryana elections that gave the party and NaMo a morale boost following the underwhelming performance in the Lok Sabha polls, is unsurprising.
ROGUE NATIONS?
America’s Five Eyes ally and neighbour has been a preferred hub for terrorist groups spanning various ideologies, religions, and ethnicities. In that sense, it is truly global and diverse. From Sikh terrorist groups to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Provisional Irish Republican Army, Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan, and various shades of Islamist terrorists, including Al Qaeda and ISIS—you name it, Canada had or has it. Various terrorist organisations, their cells, and their front groups operate freely on Canadian soil, engaging in a range of activities: fundraising, extortion, human trafficking, logistical support for terrorist activities, procurement of weapons and technological equipment, and recruitment.
In June 1998, Ward Elcock, the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), had submitted to a Special Committee of the Senate (Canada’s Inadequate Response to Terrorism: The Need for Policy Reform, Martin Collacott, The Fraser Institute, 2006) that with the singular exception of the United States, there were more international terrorist organisations active in Canada than any other country in the world. According to Elcock, Canada-based terrorists had a direct or indirect association with the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, suicide bombings in Israel, assassinations in India, the murder of tourists in Egypt, the Al Khobar Towers attack in Saudi Arabia, and the bombing campaign of the Provisional IRA.
Canada’s proclivities are evident in that its Parliament honours a Nazi veteran and observes a moment of silence for the wanted terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, while the victims of the 1985 Air India bombings are revictimised by the open glorification of the terrorists who perpetrated that horrific attack.
I outlined the pathetic record of the United States in upholding human rights and democratic values, and its staggering hypocrisy, in my article “Challenging the American Narrative”, published in April 2024 in this publication.
According to Brown University’s Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs, during 2021-2023, the US government conducted counterterrorism operations in 78 countries, including ground combat in at least nine countries and airstrikes in at least four countries. This excludes its ops in Russia, China, and Iran, and its intel gathering and psyops around the world. The Watson Institute estimates the total death toll in post-9/11 war zones, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, at 4.5-4.7 million and counting. Of these, 3.6-3.8 million are estimated indirect deaths, with women and children being disproportionately impacted as a reverberating effect of the conflicts due to water loss, infrastructural issues, and war-related disease. American excesses against its own citizens, especially Muslims, in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks are well-documented.
According to a Congressional Research Service report titled “Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2023”, since the end of the Cold War in a unipolar world, D.C. has significantly increased its foreign military interventions, targeting a vast majority of countries worldwide. Of the total 469 documented military interventions abroad, 200 occurred between 1991 and 2018. This excludes covert ops. The CIA, notorious for its involvement in coups and political assassinations in foreign nations, acknowledged in the September 2023 podcast, The Langley Files, that the 1953 coup it backed in Iran was undemocratic. For those interested, the agency’s website features a document titled “A Short History of CIA Interventions in Sixteen Foreign Countries”, highlighting just a fraction of its activities, with many more still not declassified.
Last month, 37 people—including three Americans, a Briton, a Belgian, and a Canadian—were sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo for a bungled armed coup attempt on 19 May, led by Christian Malanga, an American-Congolese who had resided in the US for many years and even trained with the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps of the US Armed Forces. In the same month, the US State Department swiftly rejected allegations of CIA involvement in an assassination plot against Venezuelan President after arrest of two Spaniards, a Czech, and three Americans, including a military officer, in connection with the plot. A month prior, the US was alleged to have helped overthrow Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh, installing a leader widely perceived as a US puppet. That makes three nations in just six months, highlighting the US pattern of foreign interference with impunity, yet there is little outrage in Western media, which often ignores or denies these charges.
TERRORISTS OF AMERICA+
The Nijjar-Pannun plot and the extent of India’s involvement remain undetermined. However, it is an established fact that David Headley, a US citizen, played a crucial role in the 26/11 attacks—India’s equivalent of 9/11—resulting in 166 deaths, including 141 Indians and six Americans. The US entered into a plea deal with Headley, which prevented his extradition to India for trial. Former NSA M.K. Narayanan has remarked that Headley was a double agent and that the US, not wanting to fully expose him, likely withheld crucial information that could have aided India in preventing the tragedy. Captain Tahawwur Hussain Rana, another accused in the 26/11 attacks, is a Canadian citizen, and India is awaiting his extradition. The US continued its military assistance to Pakistan even after 26/11. As of now, both the US and Canada are protecting terrorists wanted in India, and allowing the threats issued by them against India in the name of free speech. It is deeply ironic that America+ do not practise what they preach, and are actively or passively enabling terror.
ALLY-CUM-BULLY
Justin Trudeau’s motivations to sink bilateral ties with India are irrelevant. The Canadian government under his leadership deserves the same contempt reserved for terror-sponsoring nations like Pakistan. It is clear that Trudeau would not have escalated tensions with India without US approval—either from the government or the Deep State. It is not India’s job to differentiate; the US should handle its relationship with India without letting its internal divisions impact its most significant strategic ties of the 21st century.
The ongoing pursuit of the Pannun case by the US, along with media leaks targeting India—most recently highlighted in the Washington Post with claims involving Amit Shah—shows that the US is back to playing the games that Modi is quite familiar with since his Gujarat days. If India aspires to be a global leader, it must move beyond merely delivering speeches about the hypocrisy surrounding good and bad terrorists. India needs to undertake a process of mental decolonisation in international affairs and be prepared to confront bullies who actively undermine India’s interests by providing safe haven to designated terrorists sought by the world’s largest democracy.
India is the most populous nation in the world, home to one-sixth of humanity, and is poised to become the third-largest economy within a few years. Confronting various countries that are largely aligned with, if not directed by, the US is a waste of time. The challenges posed by America and its allies should be addressed directly with the US, even if it currently holds the status of the only superpower and India may not match its economic, military, or narrative power. The US needs India as a counterbalance to China, while many Western companies see India as a promising manufacturing hub and a vast market. India must learn to leverage its strengths and exploit American weakness of pursuing interests at any cost.
CONCLUSION
Sirajuddin Haqqani, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US, has a USD 10 million bounty put by the FBI. This same Haqqani serves as the interior minister of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Notably, the Doha Agreement facilitated the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021, ultimately jeopardising the future of 15 million women in that nation. Just a week before the US reached its deal with the Taliban in 2020, Haqqani was granted an opinion piece in the New York Times. The moral of the story is that the US lacks the moral authority to criticise others.
While I do not advocate for assassinations or extrajudicial killings, it is naïve to ignore that many nations engage in such practices, with the US and Israel being the most prominent. If we assume, for the sake of argument, that the Indian government had a role in this murky saga, it raises significant concerns about its effectiveness in executing covert operations.
The Indian government is accountable to the people of India, and should not feel obligated to adhere to rules set by the US if doing so compromises India’s sovereignty and national security. India must keep all options on the table, including recalibrating its ties with nations that provide safe haven to terrorists intent on attacking or balkanising India. This recalibration should focus on establishing partnerships that strengthen India’s strategic interests and enhance its global standing. Most importantly, India needs to learn narrative management from the US—a nation that despite its lack of principles, has successfully positioned itself as the moral arbiter of the world.
Semu Bhatt is a strategic adviser and author, as well as the founder of FuturisIndia.