Human Rights Watch has called for an investigation into allegations that Indian government agents were involved in overseas assassination plots against Sikh separatists in the US and Canada. The call follows reports that the Indian government has been linked to online disinformation campaigns against academics and activists living abroad.
Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said: “India’s alleged involvement in assassination plots in the US and Canada suggests a new and notorious leap in extrajudicial killings. The Indian authorities’ repeated failure to hold police and military personnel accountable for unlawful killings demonstrates the need for more credible investigations.”
In September 2023, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of involvement in the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Sikh separatist leader, on June 18, in British Columbia. The Indian government dismissed the allegations as “absurd.”
On November 29, US authorities announced charges against an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, whom they allege was recruited by an unnamed Indian government official to arrange a contract killing of a Sikh separatist leader in the US. The Indian authorities said such actions were “contrary to government policy” and announced a high-level inquiry committee to investigate the allegations.
According to US prosecutors, the alleged plot was foiled by US authorities and the target was widely reported to be Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the general counsel for the US-based Sikhs for Justice. The group advocates the secession of Punjab state from India to create the independent nation of Khalistan for Sikhs, a minority religious group in the country.
The allegations of Indian government involvement in targeted killings abroad come amid increasing reports of serious human rights violations against activists in India. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has attempted to silence dissent using intimidation and harassment of critics through raids and arbitrary arrests, including under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the primary counterterrorism law.
Human Rights Watch has expressed its concern over the Indian government’s systematic failure to prosecute security force personnel for extrajudicial killings and other serious abuses in India, and its lack of independent oversight for intelligence agencies. The organisation has also highlighted the BJP government’s ultranationalist ideology promoting Hindu supremacy, and its failure to hold its supporters and members of BJP-affiliated groups to account for violence.
In conclusion, Human Rights Watch said: “The Indian government needs to do a lot more than issue denials in response to alleged involvement in grave abuses both at home and abroad. The authorities need to stop silencing critics and allowing security forces to commit violations with impunity.”
Human Rights Watch has called on the Indian authorities to investigate allegations of extrajudicial killings abroad, and to uphold international and constitutional obligations to protect the rights to life and liberty, freedom from torture, freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, and the right to a fair trial.
Human Rights Watch has urged the Indian government to conduct thorough and impartial investigations into allegations that its agents were involved in overseas assassination plots against Sikh separatists in the US and Canada. The international organisation has expressed concern over the Indian government’s lack of accountability for extrajudicial killings and other serious abuses in India, as well as its attempts to silence dissent. It has also highlighted the BJP government’s ultranationalist ideology promoting Hindu supremacy, and its failure to hold its supporters and members of BJP-affiliated groups to account for violence. Human Rights Watch has called on the Indian authorities to uphold international and constitutional obligations to protect the rights to life and liberty, freedom from torture, freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, and the right to a fair trial.
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