The latest diplomatic row between Canada and India over the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil earlier this year is showing no signs of thawing out any time soon.
In the most recent development, Delhi has ordered a top Canadian diplomat to leave India in an apparent tit-for-tat move, just hours after Canada ejected an Indian diplomat in connection with the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh who was killed by masked gunmen in June in Surrey, outside Vancouver. India claims Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, had links to terrorism.
Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the hit, sparking a diplomatic crisis. Delhi calls the allegations “absurd” and said that the expulsion came amid “growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities”.
Interestingly, Canada did not furnish any evidence to support its claims of Indian involvement in the murder. However, if true, this would mark a significant shift in India’s counterintelligence policy.
While its security and intelligence branches have long been active players in South Asia, especially in Pakistan, liquidating a Canadian national, on Canadian soil, is unprecedented.
This, however, is not new. Kuala Lumpur itself has been the backdrop of two high-profile political assassinations.
On February 13, 2017, North Korean intelligence operatives murdered Kim Jong-nam – North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother – at klia2 International Airport in Kuala Lumpur. The North Korean masterminds managed to escape, while the two female ‘triggermen’ were arrested, but were later released. The murder weapon was the VX nerve gas, a binary nerve agent.
On April 21, 2018, two unknown gunmen shot and killed prominent Palestinian scholar Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh, while on his way to a mosque in Setapak, a suburb in Kuala Lumpur. Al-Batsh’s father claimed that the Israeli intelligence agency, the Mossad, was behind the hit. Almost four years after al-Batsh was gunned down, a suspect was arrested in Gaza by Hamas. The suspect later admitted that he had been recruited by the Mossad to carry out the contract hit.
In September last year, a ‘snatch-and-grab’ operation of two Palestinian high-value targets was foiled by the Royal Malaysia Police. One of the targets managed to escape and alerted the authorities, while his companion was bundled into an MPV and taken away to a secret location in Kuala Langat, in the state of Selangor.
Within hours, a hostage strike group from Bukit Aman assaulted the location and freed the Palestinian. Several suspects, including a female ‘spymaster’ – all locals – were arrested and charged. Again, it is believed that the Mossad was behind the abduction.
One of the more significant hits of this decade was the abduction and murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in Turkey, on Oct 2, 2018.
On that day, Khashoggi, a US-based journalist and a vocal critic of Saudi Arabia’s government, walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he was murdered. Ankara later charged 20 Saudis for the killing.
Saudi officials said the journalist was killed in a “rogue operation” by a team of agents sent to persuade him to return to the kingdom. Turkish officials however, said the agents acted on orders from the “highest levels” of the Saudi government.
Are we seeing a return of political assassinations, reminiscent of the days of the Cold War?
Maj Gen Datuk Nizam Jaffar, Commandant of the National Resilience College in Putrajaya, believes so.
“This is because there are a lot more incidents, crises, resentment, and dissatisfaction, especially in times of great upheaval.
“There are a lot of reasons behind these types of operations. Politics is just one of them.”
“The main objective is to solve a problem. A state doesn’t need to ‘make a statement’. Not all assassinations are state sponsored… most are driven by animosity, anger, ideologies, and so many other factors.
“But if you’re talking about political assassinations, everything has been considered, calculated, and factored in. These are ‘surgical strikes’, pure and simple,” he added.
Nazri said that following the botched kidnapping of the two Palestinian operatives, Malaysia’s security and counterintelligence services have identified and taken measures to improve its surveillance and intelligence-gathering capabilities.
“We’ve put in place certain measures to increase and improve our monitoring and surveillance capabilities. We’ve also enhanced certain things in the area of joint ops, inter-agency cooperation, as well as in the sharing of intelligence data.
“This extends to the cooperation between the police and the armed forces. I’m confident we are prepared for any eventuality.”
A former intelligence operative who spoke to Twentytwo13 on condition of anonymity said that these types of operations are part and parcel of any government’s ‘play book’.
“In most cases, it’s either to quickly solve a problem, or to send a clear message to one’s adversaries. Or both.
“If you look at the cost-benefit analysis, the risks are almost always deemed ‘acceptable’. The political fallout from something like this is so temporary. Within a few months, all will be forgotten.”
He cited the Khashoggi case as a prime example.
Saudi Arabia’s relations with the West initially suffered a slight ‘bump’ following the assassination, but has since returned to normalcy, with record investments from its key allies the United States, and Europe. In 2022, following US President Joe Biden’s visit to the kingdom, Saudi Arabia signalled its appreciation by promising to increase oil production for the summer, signing several economic and security agreements, and permitting the use of its airspace for flights to all countries.
“It is what it is, as the Americans like to say,” said the intelligence officer.
