The statements made by Rajnath Singh about executing terrorists on Pakistani land were met with criticism a few days prior by the foreign ministry of Pakistan.
On Thursday, Pakistan received an offer of support from Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to counteract terrorist operations within its borders. Speaking only to the news organization ANI, he declared, “India is ready to cooperate to stop terrorism if Pakistan feels incapable.” But he also issued a warning to Pakistan, saying that it will pay a price if its goal is to use terrorism to destabilize India.
Singh made these comments a few days after he declared unequivocally that India will invade Pakistan in the event if terrorists fled to the neighboring country after carrying out terror attacks there.
Singh told CNN News18, “If they flee to Pakistan, we will infiltrate that country and murder them.”
“India constantly seeks to preserve positive ties with its surrounding nations… However, we won’t spare anyone who repeatedly gives India the evil eye, visits the country, and attempts to encourage terrorism,” Singh declared.
He was answering a query on a story published in The Guardian that stated India has been planning targeted killings in Pakistan as a component of a larger effort to eradicate.
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According to the allegation, the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) of India started conducting killings overseas, particularly in Pakistan, with a particular focus on people engaged in violent and dangerous terrorist operations.
The report was released months after India was charged by the US and Canada of murdering or trying to assassinate citizens of those nations.
However, the ministry of external affairs refuted the allegations, citing S. Jaishankar’s previous declaration that “the government of India’s policy” was not to carry out targeted assassinations in other nations.
Since the 2019 Pulwama assault, which was linked to terrorists in Pakistan and led New Delhi to launch an airstrike on what it claimed to be a militant stronghold in Balakot, ties between India and Pakistan have deteriorated.
Since then, Pakistan has seen the unexplained deaths of several terrorists. The terrorists that have been killed include Sheikh Jameel-ur-Rehman, Paramjit Singh Panjwar of the Khalistan Commando Force, Azam Cheema, a prominent intelligence official of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Jaish-e-Mohammed agent Shahid Latif, who was the architect behind the attack on the Pathankot airfield.
A week prior, he had forewarned Pakistan that India would hunt down any terrorist attempting to cross the border in order to escape. “We’ll go into Pakistan and murder them if they flee there,” he had stated.
The statement was made in reference to an article published in the British newspaper The Guardian, which charged Delhi of carrying out targeted executions of terrorists in Pakistan.
Speaking of Justin Trudeau’s claims that “agents” of the Indian government killed Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the head of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force, on Canadian soil, Mr. Jaishankar’s statement was directed towards that.
The Indian government “has implemented a policy of targeting those it considers hostile to India,” according to a Guardian piece that also mentioned the ministry’s denial.
According to The Guardian, there have been as many as 20 similar executions since the February 2019 attack on Indian forces in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, which resulted in the deaths of 40 men.
Additionally, Mr. Singh’s offer was similar to what was provided in 2018 and 2019.
During that particular occasion, the Minister of Defence also issued a warning to Islamabad, stating that “If it did not take independent action, conditions would be such that terror bases would be eliminated from Pakistan and that no authority would be able to reverse this..”
“Pakistan can ask for support if it believes it lacks the strength to combat terrorism,” stated the foreign minister. “India has proven that it is powerful enough to assault other countries’ territory in addition to its own.”
The comments made by the Minister of Defence come one month after the Air Force carried out “non-military, pre-emptive” operations on terrorist sites in Balakote, Pakistan. These bases were run by the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed group, which was accountable for the Pulwama assault.
“I have a question for Imran Khan, the prime minister of Pakistan, then. If the US can assist in fighting the Taliban, Pakistan may turn to India for assistance in combating terrorism,” Mr. Singh stated months before, referencing US operations against terrorism in Afghanistan.
