India Accused of Executing Assassination Plot on Pakistani Soil Since 2021: Report
Report says two Pakistanis, two Afghan citizens were hired to shoot Mistry.
ISLAMABAD: A report by The Washington Post has unveiled allegations that India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), orchestrated a series of targeted killings of individuals in Pakistan since 2021. The report claims that the plot involved at least six killings, allegedly carried out by Pakistani petty criminals or Afghan shooters hired by RAW. These killings are said to have mirrored the agency’s operations against Khalistan separatists in the United States and Canada.
According to the report, Dubai-based businessmen acted as intermediaries for RAW, setting up surveillance operations, organizing the killings, and facilitating payments through informal financial networks, known as hawala. In one such case, Zahoor Mistry, who had been involved in the 1999 Indian Airlines hijacking, was allegedly murdered in 2022. An Indian woman, identified as Tanaz Ansari—believed to be an Indian intelligence official—reportedly coordinated Mistry’s assassination by hiring local operatives and facilitating the funding for the operation.
The report also highlights the alleged involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Syed Khalid Raza, an individual active in Kashmir in the 1990s, and Shahid Latif, who was accused of masterminding the 2016 Pathankot attack. Latif was shot dead in Sialkot in October 2023, with the alleged assassin, Muhammad Umair, later confessing that he had been sent from Dubai for the mission.
These allegations come amid growing tensions between Pakistan and India, with both nations’ intelligence agencies accused of engaging in covert operations targeting each other’s nationals. The RAW’s involvement in extra-territorial killings has previously been linked to the assassination of Khalistan separatist leaders such as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and Hardeep Singh Nijjar, further escalating diplomatic strains.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs declined to comment on the latest report, and Indian officials have historically neither confirmed nor denied their involvement in such operations. However, the Indian government has maintained that such killings are not part of official policy.
This new report follows a series of earlier accusations, including a The Guardian investigation in April 2024, which revealed that the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, allegedly ordered the killings of individuals on Pakistani soil. These revelations add to the already strained relationship between the two countries, particularly after the 2016 arrest of Indian spy Kulbushan Jadhav and the 2019 revocation of Article 370, which revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, a move Pakistan has condemned as a violation of international law.
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As the situation continues to unfold, Pakistan has called for international recognition of what it describes as a “sophisticated and sinister” campaign of extra-judicial killings conducted by India. Pakistan’s foreign policy remains firm in its demand for the restoration of Kashmir’s special status, which it sees as a prerequisite for the normalization of ties with its nuclear neighbor.
