Imagine Western Countries Questioning India for Killing of Canadian terrorist leader in Canada
The fierce punches which Canada received from India for accusing it over the assassination in Vancouver in June of an Canadian terrorist leader raises questions for all countries, but especially for Western countries which claim themselves to be democracies and paragon of virtues.
These countries have started showing concerns regarding what to think and do about other countries acting in a violent way against opponents inside sovereign territory of West. Till now these very countries were carrying out rampant killings, regime changes and what not quite blatantly in the so called third world.
The West has suddenly become so paranoid about killing of terrorist leaders within their own country in inter gang warfare that they have shown the temerity to even question the state of democracy in India? These chaps forget that democracy started in India thousands of years back and today it is the largest vibrant democracy in the World. No upstarts and charlatans should even dare on lecturing India on this subject.
The killing of Canadian terrorist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar attracted little international attention at the time, chiefly because this terrorist Nijjar was not a well-known man, except to the community of Canadian Sikhs of which he formed part. It was when the Canadian authorities, apparently illegally assisted by intelligence from the U.S. in a very planned manner “ decided” to implicate the Indian government and stated that it had been involved in the killing that this became big news. With help of illegal snooping of diplomatic conversations and then blatantly twisting them out of context, the 5 Eye provided convoluted “intelligence “ to the dopish Canadian Intelligence agencies.
A foolish Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, tried and failed at the September G20 meeting in New Delhi to “ intimidate “ PM Narendra Modi, on the issue of this terrorist killing. This fool then chose to make a public statement alleging Indian involvement, the story of Canadian terrorist Nijjar’s death then become a big scandal in countries like Canada, USA and UK. Others like Australia and New Zealand quickly wriggled out of it. It has become a scandal because of “outrage” at the idea of India striking back at terrorists and separatists planning to destabilize India from safe havens abroad. Forgetting that they have been doing the same for last hundred years not only against their fugitives but also against regimes that they disapproved of. Knowing quite well that this killing was the result of a mere inter gang warfare of Canadian terror gangs, now out of control of Trudeau.
Extra-territorial actions against opponents have always happened within Europe by Europeans. Britain has been past master in this and coined a term the GREAT GAME. Next stepped in the USA with its famed CIA. It is said that they even had a hand in death of the great Indian Scientist Dr Homi Jehangir Bhava because USA feared that India was going to detonated a nuclear bomb. CIA’s killings in South America, Africa and Middle East have known no parallels. In recent years USA has been targeting Iranean leaders.
Then West begun to fear Russian agents that killed or attempted to kill numerous dissidents abroad in recent years, many in Britain. Russians have been accused by West for attempted use of a nerve agent, Novichok, that is banned by international conventions. Saudi Arabia has been accused again by West for killing a dissident journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, in 2018 in their consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Chinese agents have kidnapped people they consider to be dissidents not just in Hong Kong but also in South-East Asia.
Though USA or its supporters never talk of atrocities in Afghanistan, Iraq including killing of Saddam, bombings in Syria, Guantanamo bay prison and even civil prisons in USA itself. Only Australians have been angry at USA government over the Assange affair.
Even Japan has not been immune to such actions: in 1973 the South Korean opposition politician, Kim Dae Jung, was kidnapped from a Tokyo hotel by South Korean agents who allegedly were only dissuaded from murdering him by pressure from the American CIA. Mr Kim was taken to Seoul and put under house arrest instead before being sent into a more distant exile in the United States. In 1998, once South Korea had become a democracy, Mr Kim was elected president.
What is notable about the series of examples of extra-territorial violence listed above is that apart from the perpetrators listed have all been Western democracies or authoritarian regimes. So gleefully, Western countrues have tried to name the land of Gandhi also. Some might argue that western democracies’ secret services are just better at disguising their actions, and it is known that Israel’s Mossad has committed such killings in the past.
One reason is that, in Western democracies, public protests against extra-judicial and extra-territorial killings by spy agencies is missing since they feel that they are in a state of war against the Communists and Talibans. Though nowadays in the aftermath of Coldwar such actions are politically risky both for the spies and for the political leaders who have to give approval for them. In 1988, when British soldiers killed three unarmed members of the terrorist Irish Republican Army the backlash against the action was long and loud, even though a civil war was under way in the UK territory of Northern Ireland and even though the killings took place in the British colony of Gibraltar. Authoritarian regimes feel a lot less constrained by public opinion, which is why Russia has been such a frequent culprit. Though these same Britishers have no compunction in supporting Khalistani terror groups operating from within Britain. Their BBC will harp on “ Indian Administered Kashmir “ but the same chaps will bristle on hearing of “ British Administered Scotland “ or “ British Occupied Northern Ireland “.
Nonetheless, all types of regimes are constrained by a further consideration. To carry out a violent act on another country’s territory is tantamount to an act of war. This provides the answer to the question, of why countries do not assassinate each others’ political leaders. The reason is that to carry out a political assassination would, in modern times, be seen as a declaration of war on the target country. All countries, authoritarian or democratic, rightly think twice before contemplating such an action. This reasoning must include that letting groups advocate separatism / disintegration of another country to operate from ones’ soil is also an act of war …which Canada has been doing against India since long.
Which brings us back to the case of Canadian terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and his killing in Vancouver in June. It has not been proven that this was the work of Indian agents, or of killers encouraged by the Indian government. Yet Prime Minister Trudeau acting like turd, clearly believes the 5 eye fabricated evidence for this is strong enough for him to take the risk of accusing and taking on a fellow democratic country, India, of perpetrating this violation of Canadian law and its sovereignty. He was actually not expecting a retun KNOCK OUT punch from India.
It is seen that many Canadian Sikhs, including terrorist Nijjar, are campaigning for their homeland in India to secede and become a separate country. We can reasonably wonder whether this terrorist Nijjar can really have posed such a threat to India, from his homeland Canada ( even with backing of Canadian government ) thousands of miles away, that it would have been worthwhile for India to take the political risk of taking fight across international borders and into an otherwise friendly foreign country. However Trudeau has been very fast on the draw. In case he has sympathy for the likes of Nijjar and gang, then why not carve out a separate country of Khalistan in Canada itself or at the least just a Province.
What we can also observe is that inside India itself the backlash against the idea that Indian spies might have committed this act has been missing. This is because now Indians are not ready to take any such turd from any one not even Turdeau. There have instead been many loud protests in the Indian media against Canada and the West for making this accusation, often linked to an argument that if the accusation were proved to be true, the killing would be fully justifiable….like killing of Osama bin Laden.
This inevitably raises the third question, about rising India, a country which USA and many of its allies have been seeking to become closer to because of sharing of common values. The reality is that since his election in 2014 as prime minister, Narendra Modi has increased the WILL POWER of India along with its Economical and military Power. India is now the third largest economy in PPP terms and poised to become the second largest even USA dollar terms. This is what is gelling many countries of G7 block.
The lack of protest against the idea of the Canadian killing implies that India has become more like USA, at least in its international discourse. It is of course still a democracy, given that the next general elections will be held in 2024 and they will be competitive, much more than USA, UK etc combined.
Does this mean that the West should confront India? No, because there is nothing that they should do to weaken India. This is the only country that will save them from the onslaught of their other adversaries.
What Western countries can do is to shed any illusions that their political leaders might have own “superiority “ and whether collaboration with India is something justifiable and promotable on the basis of so called western values. If they collaborate, especially with regard to resisting China, it will be on the basis of shared interests, nothing more.