After the Canadian and the US governments alleged that Indian intelligence agencies were involved in killing some of the rogue elements living in those countries, The Guardian, a British newspaper, and a chronic critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi carried out a two-page report claiming to have spoken to Pakistani and Indian intelligence officials, saying that it was the Indian agencies who were behind the killing of about 20 people in Pakistan.
All of those killed were either designated terrorists or had proclaimed association with one or the other terrorist groups.
The report does not suggest anything about the killing of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjer in Canada or “an aborted” plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, except repeating the US and the Canadian government allegations.
In Pakistan during the last few years, about 20 terrorists were killed by “unknown” people. The Pakistani government has not officially confirmed the killings in most of the cases since that would mean admitting that these people were living there, something which Islamabad has consistently denied.
But in some cases, it has pointed a finger at India's external agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
The Government of India has repeatedly denied all these charges.
However, these killings are being widely celebrated across India on social media platforms. The celebratory messages are shared between people across different groups. And everything is attributed to the current regime at the centre, which is considered to defend the national interest.
The general sentiment across the country appears to be supportive of the action if there is any, and whosoever is ordering and executing these.
If India or any of its agencies are doing that, it appears, there is popular approval and support for it across the country.
The common refrain is that if the US and Israel can do it, why can’t and why shouldn’t India do it also?
It is for the first time that India has reacted that way if at all it has reacted. Otherwise, till now, India has always been a soft target of terrorists and terror attacks.
The terrorists would use foreign soil in planning and executing terror acts inside India and even abroad killing numerous Indians.
The Kanishka Bombing, which killed 329 people midair, for which nobody was punished as the then Canadian government headed by current PM Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, went soft on suspects, has always haunted and hurt the Indians about being soft targets of terror attacks.
The Mumbai terror attack, the attack on the parliament and several other numerous incidents of terror which were conceived and planned in Pakistan, no action was taken. The culprits went scot-free. It is for the first time that they have started facing the music, from whichever quarter.
Earlier, there was no fear of retribution from India. Anybody would launch a terror attack, kill people inside India and brag about it.
Now, nobody can feel safe after having indulged in any such acts against India. Retribution indeed is a very strong deterrent.
It is believed to have started in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack when a suicide bomber killed about 40 Indian para-military personnel in Pulwama in Kashmir. Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan-based terror group, took responsibility for it.
India retaliated and smashed the terror shelters deep inside Pakistan's territory. Since then there has been no looking back.
While the government owned the bombing of the terrorist training camps in Pakistan, subsequent killings continue to remain a mystery.
Although such an approach will never get any approval from the international community, people across India are very much approving of it.
These allegations and “revelations” could not have come at a better time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is recognised as a leader who has kept the national interest paramount.
Such acts, which are attributed to his government, only add to his credentials as a staunch nationalist who can go to any extent to defend the national interest, including “killing the terrorists in their homes”, proudly described as “ghar mein ghus ke marna”.
An aggressive approach against terrorism and secessionism with stringent action against secessionist and separatist forces is considered his greatest contribution not to speak of the abrogation of Article 370, which until 2019, when it was repealed, was thought to be unimaginable.
People across the country would always wonder and ask, if a small country like Israel can carry out preemptive actions against terrorists in foreign countries, why can’t India?
All of these people have got the answer and they hail Prime Minister Modi for the same, no matter what the international, the US or Canadian opinion may be.
Nobody cares, as long as the country has imbibed the fear of retribution in the minds of those who used to take India for granted that you can mess with it and still get away with it.
But, not any more. You can no more mess with India and get away with it. You will be chased, no matter where you hide. And India is hailing and supporting it.
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