Canada accusing Indian agencies of the 18 July murder of pro-Khalistan activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar is an extraordinary development between two democracies. A line was allegedly crossed by India, followed by Canada violating etiquette, too. It is no secret that democracies spy on each other; in fact, they even eavesdrop on their closest allies. But there is an unwritten understanding, largely not to transcend certain lines that are sacrosanct. This is based on a clear understanding that in the pursuit of intelligence, a friendly democracy shall not violate a fundamental of modern law – the right to life.
Democracies clearly don’t take the lives of their enemies on friendly soil; it is just not done. Accusing India of murder while speaking on the floor of the Canadian parliament clearly demonstrates the seriousness of the charges being made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It would be churlish and naive for New Delhi to take this matter lightly, for certainly, both sides have now crossed a line. As expected, expulsions of diplomats have now been announced between both countries, and relations are obviously frosty.
These are clearly unprecedented happenings between democratic countries, and they must not allow further derailment of ties.
Diplomatic challenges for New Delhi
India faces accusations of murder by a fellow democracy and Commonwealth member—a country that is the founding member of NATO and the Five Eyes intelligence club. While the former alliance requires members to come to the aid of any that is threatened, remember Canada has levelled sovereignty violation charges against India. The latter club is the closest-knit of any groupings worldwide. So a pause, a time-out, is quickly required to bring a certain equilibrium to the debate, for if allowed to run amok across the spectrum, the consequences can indeed be diplomatically terrible and subsequently even trigger a tragedy.
Should the accusations be true, then Indian ineptitude has once again been caught out by its attempts to play 21st-century James Bond with resources from the previous decades. A motivated Naval officer suffers in a Pakistani jail, and Mehul Choksi’s would-be kidnappers remain at large – all pointing fingers in one direction.
The Indian State comes across as sloppy and incapable of playing the super spy role that reverberates in many a dream. When the tools are inadequate, it is far better to look within and improve the conditions at home rather than chase a script that may never thrill.
Also read: No signs of a looming pro-Khalistan insurgency. India needn’t fear the ghost of BKI’s Parmar
Punjab has bigger problems to tackle
There are far more pressing matters that confront Punjab in 2023 than imagining an awakening of 1980s ghosts. Pro-Khalistan activists may gather in the thousands in London or Toronto, but they can’t reignite the fires of those ghastly decades in Punjab for the simple reason that the Khalsa has moved on. They are not going to allow that phantom to return and bring further ruin to Punjab. The spectre of drugs is, in any case, doing that to thousands of culpable youth. Organised crime and inter-state gangsters far supersede the number of pro-Khalistan elements in today’s Punjab. Tackling those is a national requirement.
Any kind of harm to a Pro-Khalistan leader in British Columbia is an insult to the Khalsa in Punjab, for it presupposes that a shrill cry many time zones away is going to find the ears of a faithful in the pind (village). Prejudices of 1980s India come back afresh, but now with eager listeners carrying smartphones. What the Khalsa sees is a conspiracy by the faithful, who are over-eager to unearth a separatist uprising where none exists while extensively eulogising mob lynching and cow vigilantes. Digital patriotism, thus, expends more energy on rubbishing Canada than empathy with a murdered soldier in Manipur.
Such double standards over pressing issues and the application of law are a bigger national security concern in Punjab than the movement for a Khalistan based on 1980s dreams. However, given the rapidity and extent of information flows now, the Nijjar killing could well turn out to be a provocation for someone, somewhere. And on that score, Canada’s role in outing the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) Station Chief Pavan Kumar Rai is an abhorrent step.
Rai is best kept safely in India, with his career in external operations now a closed chapter. India reciprocated by outing Olivier Sylvestre, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service chief in India. Chapter not closed.
Also read: Amritpal’s rise and fall expose a vulnerable Punjab. Minority bashing will boost radicalism
Consequences of being ‘outed’
Canada has crossed a line in outing Rai, something democracies are not prone to do. There is a greater awareness and sensitivity to such matters where the rule of law prevails, but clearly, Ottawa doesn’t give a toss. New Delhi followed suit, but the Indian is certainly more vulnerable than the Canadian sleuth. For there is a tragic precedence to being outed as a spy, and it begins on a November 1979 morning in Islamabad when a student mob fuelled by rumours stormed the United States Embassy there. They were incensed by Iranian reports of US troops occupying Mecca.
Fake news worked without digital transportation then, and the mob burned the embassy down. Repeated pleas to Pakistani authorities for help didn’t elicit a speedy response, and in the process, two US and two local employees were killed. But before the burning, scores of classified papers were conveniently looted by the mob, among which was the identity of a remarkable Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) field agent, a combat-experienced US Special Forces officer. Fires were by now consuming West Asia just as in South Asia, and some years later, a suicide bomber destroyed the US Embassy in Beirut on 18 April 1983, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans.
The entire CIA team died. So, Lt Col William Francis Buckley was sent to revive the station, recruit new sources and all the spook stuff. Which he must have done with aplomb because when Hezbollah blew up the US Marine Corps barracks on 23 October 1983, they claimed to have killed the CIA station chief, except they didn’t know the name yet. The cache from Islamabad was still being passed around in smoky cafés, eliciting the higher bidder. By March 1984, Buckley was outed in the alleys of Beirut, dying under terrible torture more than a year later.
Manvendra Singh is a Congress leader, Editor-in-Chief of Defence & Security Alert and Chairman, Soldier Welfare Advisory Committee, Rajasthan. He tweets @ManvendraJasol. Views are personal.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)