India faces growing international scrutiny over allegations of orchestrating extrajudicial assassinations abroad, straining its diplomatic relations with Western nations.

A report published by The Washington Post on December 31, 2024, by India Bureau Chief Gerry Shih, has reignited global concerns over India’s clandestine operations abroad. The investigation alleges that India has initiated “an ambitious assassination program in Pakistan, with marked similarities to operations in North America.”

According to the report, since 2021, India’s premier intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), has meticulously orchestrated the assassinations of at least six individuals deep inside Pakistan. A similar exposé in The Guardian on April 4, 2024, asserted that India has been implicated in the targeted killings of approximately twenty Pakistani citizens since 2020.

The issue is not confined to South Asia. On April 21, 2024, The Express Tribune published a report titled “RAW Goes Rogue, Globally,” featuring remarks from Michael Kugelman, Director of the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute. Kugelman underscored the gravity of the allegations, stating that such tactics “violate key principles of international law like territorial integrity and national sovereignty, and they are clearly illegal.”

These revelations echo a controversy that first surfaced in September 2023, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an unprecedented claim: Canada had “credible information linking the Indian government” to the assassination of a prominent Sikh leader on Canadian soil. By October 14, 2024, the Canadian government responded forcefully. Mélanie Joly, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced the expulsion of six Indian diplomats, including the Indian High Commissioner, citing “ample, clear, and concrete evidence” connecting them to the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader.

Further scrutiny of India’s alleged extrajudicial killings came from Foreign Policy on January 14, 2024, in an opinion piece by Toronto-based journalist Justin Ling. He argued that India’s engagement in foreign assassinations signals an “extraordinary entry into a club of nations that use homicide to advance their international and domestic agenda.” Ling warned that “political assassinations on foreign soil are, in light of international law, illegal and by diplomatic convention, they are a cardinal sin and potentially even an act of war.”

By October 30, 2024, the controversy escalated further when Canada’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, David Morrison, briefed parliamentary members on intelligence indicating that India’s Home Minister, Amit Shah, had authorized a systematic campaign of violence, intimidation, and intelligence-gathering targeting Sikh leaders within Canada. The revelations suggested a coordinated effort by New Delhi to neutralize voices advocating for Sikh autonomy abroad.

The scandal reached U.S. soil in September 2024, when the District Court for the Southern District of New York issued summonses to the government of India, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and former RAW chief Samant Goel in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a pro-Khalistan activist. Pannun, who filed a lawsuit against the Indian government, presented what he described as substantial evidence implicating RAW in the assassination attempt. The case raises troubling questions about India’s willingness to violate international norms, further straining its diplomatic relations with Western nations.

These allegations have sent shockwaves through global capitals. Reports from The Washington Post, The Guardian, and Foreign Policy have painted a picture of an India increasingly willing to use extrajudicial killings as an instrument of statecraft. Elaine Pearson, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch, warned in December 2023 that India’s “involvement in assassination plots in the U.S. and Canada suggests a new and notorious leap in extrajudicial killings.”

This pattern of behavior, critics argue, is not an aberration but part of a broader trajectory under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi’s government, influenced by Hindutva ideology, has been accused of prioritizing political objectives over democratic principles. A BBC documentary titled India: The Modi Question alleged that Modi was “directly responsible for the 2002 massacre of Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat.” The controversy surrounding his leadership led the U.S. Department of State to deny him a visa in 2005.

Given the mounting evidence implicating India in a global network of extraterritorial assassinations, the international community faces a pressing challenge: how to hold a rising power accountable without jeopardizing geopolitical stability. Some experts advocate for India’s inclusion on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Grey or Black List—a move that would classify it alongside states accused of sponsoring terrorism. Such a designation would significantly impact India’s international standing and financial credibility, potentially curbing its alleged covert operations.

The debate over India’s actions underscores a broader dilemma in international relations: balancing realpolitik with moral and legal obligations. If the allegations against India hold, its transformation into a state engaged in targeted killings abroad represents a seismic shift in global security dynamics—one that demands urgent international scrutiny and response.