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There have been several allegations concerning India of being involved in state-sponsored terrorism, or having involvement in terrorist activities that have affected other states. These accusations have prominently come from, but are not strictly limited to, neighboring countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China and Bangladesh. Many of these allegations are centered on the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's premier intelligence agency. Other allegations have been centred on the Government of India and the Indian Armed Forces. India has denied many of the accusations.

Domestic operations

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Khalistan

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Main article: Khalistan Movement

One of the objectives of the Research and Analysis Wing was to "teach a lesson to the ever-agitating Sikhs" and it engaged in several clandestine operations.[1]

United States

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In February 2000 while addressing the Congress in a speech, American member of the House of Representatives Edolphus Towns labelled India as "one of the leading practitioners of terrorism" and called for it to be declared a "terrorist state" for oppression of minorities. He also mentioned RAW involvement in Pakistan and the LTTE insurgency. Excerpts from the controversial speech:[2]

On December 20, according to Reuters News Service (as reported in India West), Pakistani police arrested a man who confessed that he was an Indian agent and that he planted bombs that killed 9 people. Clearly, this is a terrorist act sponsored by the Indian government... In 1991, the Indian intelligence service, RAW, masterminded a hijacking of an Indian plane. These acts give us reason to suspect that India's hand may have been behind the recent Air India hijacking. In November 1994, the Hitavada, a well-respected newspaper in India, reported that the Indian government paid Surendra Nath, the late governor of Punjab, one and a half billion dollars to foment terrorism in Punjab, Khalistan and in Kashmir. Can anyone deny that a country which would do this is a terrorist nation?

The Indian government intelligence wing, RAW, supported the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to gain control of the port of Trincornelli. India Today magazine reported that the leader of the LTTE was entertained by the Indian government in one of Delhi's best hotels. Later, India turned against the LTTE and invaded Sri Lanka to crush the LTTE freedom movement. The Indian government has blood on its hands.

The Indian government murdered minorities in massive numbers... Last year, Indian defense minister George Fernandes organised and led a meeting with the ambassadors from Cuba, Red China, Russia, Iraq and Libya aimed at creating a security alliance "to stop the U.S." India supported the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and votes against American interests consistently. The time has come to take strong measures against India's brutality and terrorism by declaring India a terrorist nation.

— Edolphus Towns, Congressional speech (2000)[2]

Pakistan

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See also: India–Pakistan relations

India has been accused by the Government of Pakistan of funding, supporting and arming designated anti-state terrorist or militant groups in Pakistan, as well of having direct involvement or links in many terrorist attacks inside the country, throughout multiple occasions in history.[3] Throughout the 1960s and the course of the Bangladesh Liberation War, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of India played a pivotal role in erstwhile East Pakistan, which included funding the campaign of Bengali leader Mujibur Rahman and later arming the Mukti Bahini rebels in the civil war against the state.[3] RAW imparted training, finances and arms in order to sustain the fight against West Pakistani troops. Through RAW's funding of the rebels, Pakistan and China saw a direct Indian design to dismember its arch-rival and create Bangladesh for its own regional political interests. During the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1970s and 1980s, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of India was blamed of possible involvement in the planning and execution of several terrorist incidents inside Pakistan to "deter Pakistani support of the Afghan liberation movement against India's ally, the Soviet Union."[3] In particular, it was believed to have provided assistance to the KGB intelligence agency, which at the time was believed to have a considerable network of terrorist activities inside Pakistani cities.[3] Intelligence reports during the time suggested that several training camps had been simultaneously established in Indian Punjab; these camps were accused of providing training to anti-Pakistan elements.[3]

File:North-India-locator-1.png
Map of North India with Punjab, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh highlighted. RAW was alleged to have operated several camps in these states.[3]

RAW has been alleged of involvement in disinformation campaigns, espionage and sabotage operations in Pakistan. During the 1990s, published reports suggested that as many as 35,000 RAW agents entered Pakistan during the period 1983-93. Out of these agents, as many as 12,000 were working in Sindh, 10,000 in Punjab, 8,000 in the North-West Frontier Province and some 5,000 in Balochistan.[3] RAW was further alleged of aiding several dissident elements affiliated with various sectarian and ethnic groups. Several small-scale terrorist incidents that occurred in Pakistani cities such as Peshawar, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi and Sheikhupura during the mid 1990s were attributed to the "clandestine activities" of the Indian intelligence agency.[3]

The Special Service Bureau of RAW was believed to be running as many as 40 "terrorist training camp" facilities in Rajasthan, Punjab, Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and other parts of India. The then-Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif and many senior ministers within the Pakistani government condemned India for the upsurge of terrorist incidents, as well as for having a hand in sporadic Sunni-Shi'a sectarian conflicts in the country.[3]

According to Paul R. Pillar in Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy, India is likely engaged in small-scale terrorism in Pakistan. He notes that India's activities may be in reprisal for what it is has alleged as "Pakistani-supported activity in Kashmir".[4]

The closest thing to a major power supporting terrorism is India ... But whatever it is doing is on a small scale and aimed solely at Pakistan, not at U.S. power and influence.[4]

— Paul R. Pillar (2004), Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy, pp.51

In the early 1990s, Pakistan accused the Research and Analysis Wing of supporting the Seraiki nationalist movement in southern Punjab, which included providing financial support to promote their activities; an "International Seraiki Conference" was organised in Delhi in 1993.[3] India has been charged with inciting violence in Balochistan, Sindh and Peshawar. At the same time, the truth in these accusations has been questioned.

Azad Kashmir

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On 4 May 1994, Pakistani authorities arrested two males in Azad Kashmir of Indian nationality, when they tried to cross the Line of Control at night. The authorities retrieved 18 kilograms of explosives along with accessories and two tubes of rocket launchers. Upon interrogation, the militants confessed that they had forcibly been recruited by RAW and received training in explosives handling by a Burkha Rifle unit of the Indian Army.[5] They were also promised a "handsome amount" if they returned successfully but if they refused to carry out the orders, they were threatened of being "shot dead and declared intruders."[5]

Punjab

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In December 2008, Pakistani intelligence agencies claimed to have arrested an Indian national allegedly in connection with a car bomb blast in Lahore. According to reports by Pakistani agencies, the man was from Kolkata and the same agency had claimed that the accused confessed his role in the blast.[6]

Presence in Afghanistan

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India has been accused by Pakistan of using its presence and activities inside Afghanistan as a means of carrying out sabotage and terrorist activities in Pakistan.[7] In the past, it has supported and maintained contact with Afghan regimes and groups which maintained a degree of political hostility to Pakistan, such as the Northern Alliance. The opening of a number of Indian consulates in Afghanistan in the past few years have also been a source of great contention in relations between the two countries. In particular, India has been accused by Pakistan of using its presence inside Afghanistan to openly support and fund secessionist Baloch terror groups across the border in the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan, where they are currently engaged in a restive guerrilla-style military conflict with the central government.[7] Pakistan has also held India responsible for fomenting trouble in its other western regions bordering Afghanistan, such as the tribal belt areas, including allegations of providing support to anti-state militant groups such as the Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) engaged in the current War in North-West Pakistan.

Balochistan conflict

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On 27 July 2003, the Pakistani government officially voiced its "deep" concerns over India's activities along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. It remarked that the Indian consulates had "less to do with humanitarian aid and more to do with India’s top-secret intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing."[7] Allegations against India have ranged from charges of printing fake Pakistani currency to direct involvement in terrorism. India has been accused of setting up networks facilitating terrorist training camps in various places in Afghanistan, including at an Afghan military base north of Kabul, Girishk (in southern Helmand province), the Panjshir Valley (northeast of Kabul), and in western Nimruz Province.[7]

According to a research paper by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Kabul's categorical assurances that it would not allow its soil to be used for anti-Pakistan activities have been non-satisfactory. On August 2004, Baloch politician and provincial chief minister Jam Mohammad Yousuf declared that Indian secret service agencies were running at least forty terrorist camps in Balochistan.[7] Pakistan has reiterated these accusations, claiming that it has unraveled proof of the role of Indian consulates behind the insurgents in Balochistan.

The Inspector-General of the Frontier Corps in Balochistan has said there is credible proof of India's involvement in the unrest in Balochistan via Afghanistan.[8]

In an interview with Outlook India in 2006, Pakistani senator Mushahid Hussain Syed said that India was training several hundred Baloch militants in Afghanistan and its diplomatic missions in Afghanistan were serving as "launching pads" for carrying out covert operations against Pakistan. He further expressed a concern that India's actions could "backfire" on itself:[9]

These Indian diplomatic missions serve as launching pads for undertaking covert operations against Pakistan, from Afghan soil. Particularly, the Indian consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad and their embassy in Kabul are used for clandestine activities inside Pakistan in general and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan in particular. Indian diplomatic and RAW officials have significant ingress in the Afghan ministry of tribal affairs, and are exploiting it to conduct covert activities. Indian agents are instrumental in arranging meetings of tribal elders and Afghans with dual nationalities with Indian consulate officials in Jalalabad, and assisting them in spotting and recruiting suitable tribal elders from Jalalabad and Pakistan's North and South Waziristan Agencies for covert activities. RAW has established its training camps in Afghanistan in collaboration with the Northern Alliance remnants. Approximately 600 ferraris, or Baloch tribal dissidents, are getting specialised training to handle explosives, engineer bomb blasts, and use sophisticated weapons in these camps... Indian agents are carrying out clandestine activities in the border areas of Khost and in Pakistan's tribal areas of Miranshah with the active support of Afghan Border Security Force officials.[9]

Accusations of India's support to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) have been raised on several occasions. During his rule as president, Pervez Musharraf remarked that India was injecting funds into Balochistan to run the insurgency. He also presented Afghan president Hamid Karzai a dossier of evidence which documented India's involvement in Balochistan via Afghanistan. It is believed that Baloch militant groups have not backed off from violence largely due to India having "stoked their aspirations — and helped augment their stockpile of weapons."[10]

In 2009, the Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif stated while addressing a press conference in Quetta that the government had "concrete evidence" that New Delhi was supporting terrorism in Balochistan and Waziristan. He added:[11]

India is playing a heinous role in Balochistan and Waziristan. And yet India keeps shedding crocodile tears in front of the international community by presenting itself as a victim of terrorism. We have extended all possible support to India in fighting terrorism on its soil, but it’s very unfortunate that in return New Delhi is bent upon stirring turmoil in Balochistan to disintegrate Pakistan.[11]

[1]

Sri Lanka

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See also: Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War

During the course of the Sri Lankan Civil War in the late 1970s and early 1980s, India officially armed, supported, trained and funded a number of Tamil separatist groups engaged in guerrilla warfare against the government and military of Sri Lanka. The most prominent of these was the militant organisation Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).[12] India's support for the LTTE has been dubbed by many as an example of state sponsored terrorism. The LTTE was a secessionist militant group which had been designated as a terrorist organisation by Sri Lanka, foreign governments such as Malaysia, the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, the European Union and also India.[13] Starting activities in 1983, it sought to establish a separate homeland for Tamils in Sri Lanka, an ethnic group who are predominantly concentrated in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the northern regions of Sri Lanka.[13] In 1983, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India pursued a policy of open support for the LTTE-led Tamil insurgency in Sri Lanka for a variety of strategic and domestic reasons; these included an aim to deeper project India's influence in its neighborhood and also to "placate" the attention of India's increasingly disgruntled Tamil ethnic group.[14] According to Paige Whaley Eager in the book From Freedom Fighters to Terrorists: Women and Political Violence, the Research and Analysis Wing executed India's policy of supporting LTTE insurgents.[14] Within a period of one year, there were over thirty RAW-operated LTTE training camps established in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where over 20,000 Sri Lankan Tamil insurgents were receiving "sanctuary, financial support, training and weapons."[14] The LTTE was responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka against political, civilian and state targets.

In 1987 India claimed a formal end in its support to the LTTE, after observing that supporting Tamil separatism in Sri Lanka could instead embolden further separatism among its "own restless Tamil population", among whom there had also been growing secessionist sentiments as of late.[14]

In a similar tactic to the United States government's support of the Arab Afghans or the mujahideen fighting against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s, India's support of the LTTE would constitute a case of "blowback" only a few years later.[14]

— Paige Whaley Eager (2008), From Freedom Fighters to Terrorists: Women and Political Violence, pp. 136

In 2011 the Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne of Sri Lanka said that there were still an "unknown number" of LTTE fighters who were based in secret camps located in Tamil Nadu. However, an Indian foreign ministry spokesman denied the existence of these camps.[15]

We have intelligence reports of three clandestine training centres operated by the LTTE in Tamil Nadu. Their next target is to create small-scale attacks. The entire nation must be ready to face this threat.

— D. M. Jayaratne, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (2011)[15]

On 14 August 2006, a convoy carrying the Pakistani high commissioner to Sri Lanka, Bashir Wali Mohammad, was attacked. The high commissioner escaped the attack unharmed although seven other people were killed. The Sri Lankan government blamed the LTTE for being responsible, as a response to Pakistan's increasing support for the Sri Lankan government against LTTE insurgents. The Pakistani high commissioner however alleged that India's RAW was involved in the attack in order to intimidate Pakistan. He stated that RAW was "starting a proxy war in a third country [Sri Lanka] by carrying out this lethal attack."[16] Once, when rebutting Indian allegations over Pakistan supporting militancy in Kashmir and asking India to "stop its state-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir," a Pakistani diplomat noted in a reference to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam:[17]

India is also the country which conceived, created and nurtured the most lethal terrorist organisation, which introduced suicide bombings in our region. Still India has the nerve to give lectures on morality to others.

— Amjad Hussain Sial, Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations[17]

Burma

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In 1980s, during the rule of State Law and Order Restoration Council, RAW supported the ethnic factions fighting with the state forces of Burma. One of those approached by the Indians were Kachins, who were fighting under the umbrella of a militant organization Kachin Independence Army (KIA). The rebels of KIA came to India in the disguise of students, tourists and workers and were given training and were infiltrated back in Myanmar. Besides training India also provided arms to these militants. India ended this campaign during Narasimha Rao's premiership,[18] when the KIA went into peace agreement with the Burmese government.[19] Besides KIA, India also helped the rebels of Chin province.[20] United Liberation Front of Assam a separatist group in Assam, sought help from KIA for training and acquiring arms which the later initially agreed but later curtailed its relations with ULFA after RAW threatened KIA to bring pro-democracy escapees back to Burma.[21] In 1998 Indian Navy unknowingly exposed RAW's plan of supplying arms and ammunition to the rebels in Burma's Rakhine (formerly Arakan) and Chin provinces. A shipment that was coming from Cambodia, was to be off loaded at Bangladesh-Burma border. The two boats carry the shipment were intercepted by Indian Navy ships from Port Blair. The consignment along with arms, ammunition and explosives included fifty kilogram heroin.[22]

Bangladesh

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India supported Shanti Bahini, a militant organization of Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh after the death of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, when Bangladesh improved relations with the insurgents in India. The Bahini rebels were given training at Chakrata[23] while their headquarter was at Tripura along with 6-10 camps in Mizoram.[24] The fighting between rebels and Bangladesh's army took life of about 3000-25000 civilians.[25] According to a Times of Assam report, Bangladeshi intelligence agencies have identified several terrorists leaders who have gone into hiding in India, which they use as a base for their operations. They are also said to be freely investing in Indian property markets, companies and stock markets and their illegal activities while living in the country reportedly go unchecked.[26]

United Arab Emirates

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Wikileaks cables leaked out in 2010 revealed UAE security officials in Dubai telling US counter-terrorism officials that they believed India was covertly supporting and funding Tehreek-i-Taliban militants as well as Pashtun seperatists in northwest Pakistan.[27][28]

Miscellaneous

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ A R Darshi (2001). "Indira Gandhi's maneuvering against Sant Bhindranwale". The Gallant Defender. B. Chattar Singh Jiwan Singh. pp. 90–106. ISBN 978-8176014687. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  2. ^ a b U.S. Congress (2004). Congressional Record, V. 146, Pt. 1, January 24, 2000 to February 23, 2000. United States Government Printing Office. p. 453.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j USA International Business Publications (2001). India Foreign Policy and Government Guide, Volume 1. Int'l Business Publications. pp. 102–103. ISBN 978-0739782989. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  4. ^ a b Pillar, Paul R. (2004). Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy. Brookings Institution Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0815770770.
  5. ^ a b Edward F. Mickolus (18 June 1997). Terrorism, 1992-1995: A Chronology of Events and A Selectively Annotated Bibliography. Greenwood. p. 615. ISBN 978-0313304682. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "Indian spy held for Lahore blast, claims Pakistan". Zee News. 25 December 2008. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  7. ^ a b c d e Grare, Frederic (2006). "Pakistan-Afghanistan relations in the post-911 era". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (72): p. 11-13. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  8. ^ "Balochistan's unrest: credible proof of Indian involvement: FC". Business Recorder. 8 October 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  9. ^ a b Baabar, Mariana (24 April 2006). "'RAW Is Training 600 Balochis In Afghanistan'". Outlook India. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  10. ^ Baabar, Mariana (24 April 2006). "Got The Bla-Hs". Outlook India. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  11. ^ a b Akbar, Malik Siraj (19 November 2011). "'India sponsoring terrorism in Balochistan, Waziristan'". Daily Times (Pakistan). Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  12. ^ Heiberg, Marianne; O'Leary, Brendan; Tirman, John (2007). Terror, Insurgency, and the State: Ending Protracted Conflicts. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 284. ISBN 978-0812239744.
  13. ^ a b "Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)". South Asian Terrorism Portal. 2001. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  14. ^ a b c d e Eager, Paige Whaley (2008). From Freedom Fighters to Terrorists: Women and Political Violence. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 136. ISBN 978-0754672258.
  15. ^ a b "Tamil Tiger rebels training in India: Sri Lanka PM". Dawn. 10 March 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  16. ^ Ramachandran, Sudha (22 September 2006). "The Pakistani muscle behind Colombo". Asia Times Online. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  17. ^ a b Haider, Masood (30 September). "India accused of sponsoring terrorism". Dawn. Retrieved 4 August 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Bhashyam Kasturi (2001). Verma, Bharat (ed.). "Geo-Politics of South Asian Covert Action". Indian Defence Review. 16 (2). New Delhi: Lancer Publishers: 26. ISSN 0970-2512. Retrieved 5 July 2012. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  19. ^ Colin Mackerras (23 October 2003). Ethnicity in Asia (Asia's Transformations). Routledge. p. 191. ISBN 978-0415258173. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  20. ^ David I. Steinberg (30 November 2001). Burma: The State of Myanmar. Georgetown University Press. p. 232. ISBN 978-0878408931. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  21. ^ S. P. Sinha (5 April 2008). Lost Opportunities: 50 Years of Insurgency in the North-East and India's Response. Lancer Publishers. p. 165. ISBN 978-8170621621. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  22. ^ David H. Capie (2002). Small Arms Production and Transfers in Southeast Asia. Australian National University. p. 66. ISBN 978-0731554218.
  23. ^ Ved Prakash (8 August 2008). Terrorism in India's North-East A Gathering Storm. Vol. 1. Kalpaz Publications. pp. 552–553. ISBN 978-8178356600. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  24. ^ S. K. Khanna (1 January 1998). Bangladesh (Encyclopaedia of South Asia). New Delhi: A. P. H Publishing. p. 265. ISBN 978-8170249191. Retrieved 6 July 2012. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  25. ^ Virginia Page Fortna (1 July 2008). Does Peacekeeping Work?: Shaping Belligerents' Choices after Civil War. Princeton University Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0691136714. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  26. ^ Chaudhry, Salah Uddin Shoaib (30 September 2011). "Terrorists investing in Indian stock market". Times of Assam. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  27. ^ Iqbal, Anwar (7 September 2011). "UAE officials suspected India-Taliban link: WikiLeaks". Dawn. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  28. ^ "WikiLeaks Cablegate: Dubai believes that India supported Pakistani Taliban". IBN Live. 11 December 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2012.

India Category:Foreign relations of India Category:Terrorism in India

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