Tag: Inter-Services Intelligence

Pakistan’s misery continues

Ms. Cat

Pakistan has a general election today. It will decide on the next government of the world’s fifth-most populous nation and the governments of its four provinces — Punjab, Singh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Around 128 million people can vote to pick 266 representatives to form the 16th parliament in a first-past-the-post system. They will also vote to elect the legislatures of the country’s four provinces.

Pakistan’s misery continues

Canada’s explosive claims against India put US in a pinch

Ms. Cat

Canada’s explosive claims against India put US in a pinch

The U.S. reportedly worked closely with Canada in investigating the apparent murder on its soil. President Biden has not publicly commented on the allegations, highlighting the tricky balancing act of standing by Canada without alienating India.

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The Washington Post reported earlier this week that several senior officials of Canada’s Five Eyes allies, of which the U.S. is a member, were informed of the allegations ahead of the G20 summit in New Delhi. Nevertheless, no public comment was made by any senior leaders among the group’s members, which also include the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.

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“The fact is that the Canadians have allowed some pretty dodgy people to use Canadian soil and to spread violent messages,” Dhume said.

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“Under Trudeau, the foreign policy choices have been subordinated to domestic diaspora politics, given the importance of the Sikh diaspora in Canada, which have been important liberal voters. Trudeau, who has a minority in [Canadian] parliament, is only in power because of the [New Democratic Party] led by Jagmeet Singh,” Dehejia told The Hill.

Singh is the first Sikh to lead a major federal party in Canada, and helped Trudeau form a minority government last year after the Liberals failed to win a majority in parliament.

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Reuters reported that an unnamed senior Canadian government source said Ottawa worked “very closely” with the United States on the intelligence assessment.

Related:

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Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Khalistani terrorist at centre of India-Canada tussle?

Ms. Cat

Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Khalistani terrorist at centre of India-Canada tussle? All you need to know

Who is Hardeep Singh Nijjar?

Canada-based pro-Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen at the parking lot of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in the Punjabi-dominated Surrey city of Canada’s British Columbia province.

Born in Jalandhar, Punjab, Nijjar moved to Canada in 1997 and worked as a plumber. He was married and had two children. His wealth rose suddenly due to his involvement in pro-Khalistan activities. He joined the terrorist group Babbar Khalsa International and went on to establish his own group – Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF).

Nijjar was also associated with the separatist organisation, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), which is banned in India. He is accused of being proactively involved in recruiting, training, financing and operationalising pro-Khalistan terrorist modules for spreading terror in India.

The Khalistani terrorist was wanted in several cases, including a blast in 2007 that killed six people in Ludhiana. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet in 2022 against the KTF chief over a conspiracy to kill a Hindu priest in Jalandhar. A cash reward of Rs 10 lakhs was declared against Nijjar by the NIA.

Nijjar had been accused of killing Ripudaman Singh Malik, the man who was acquitted in the 1985 Air India terrorist bombing case, in Surrey last year. He was designated as an ‘individual terrorist’ by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in July 2020.

India has repeatedly asked the Canadian authorities to take action against Nijjar for his alleged involvement in terrorist acts in Punjab. Last year the Punjab Police had sought the extradition of Nijjar on charges of reviving terrorism in the state.

‘India is behaving like a rogue state’: Dissident’s death drags Narendra Modi into global row

Nijjar was not a random target, but a prominent advocate for the creation of Khalistan, a Sikh ethno-religious state carved out of areas including India’s Punjab region.

The Khalistan movement is banned in India, where officials deem it a national security threat, but it has some support in the country’s northern regions, as well as among the sizeable Sikh diaspora in Canada and Britain.

Pakistan, India’s chief foe, is widely suspected of fanning the movement.

Related:

What is Khalistan separatist movement, how did the ideology travel from India to Canada?

Land of the Pure: The Khalistan Movement in India

A second ex-Guantanamo detainee says Ron DeSantis attended brutal forced feedings

Ms. Cat1 Comment

A second ex-Guantanamo detainee has stepped forward to say that Gov. Ron DeSantis, while a U.S. Navy JAG officer in 2006, watched and allowed the brutal forced feedings of detainees that U.N. human rights authorities, an international physician’s group and others have condemned as a form of torture.

A second ex-Guantanamo detainee says Ron DeSantis attended brutal forced feedings

Expanding on a previous entry re: CIA-trained Ukrainian paramilitaries

Ms. Cat

CIA-trained Ukrainian paramilitaries may take central role if Russia invades

While the covert program, run by paramilitaries working for the CIA’s Ground Branch* — now officially known as Ground Department — was established by the Obama administration after Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014, and expanded under the Trump administration, the Biden administration has further augmented it, said a former senior intelligence official in touch with colleagues in government.

Previously:

The CIA has backed Ukrainian insurgents before. Let’s learn from those mistakes + Project Aerodynamic

*Ground Branch: The CIA’s covert alternative to special operations

Ground Branch is a part of the CIA’s Special Activities Division**, which also includes Air Branch and Maritime Branch. As the author noted, GB paramilitary officers are primarily recruited from the special operations community. At one point known as a sort of good-old-boys network, Ground Branch was once heavily represented by former Marines. Later, GB became heavy with retired Delta Force sergeant majors. These days, things are a bit different, with the CIA preferring to contract younger former sergeants out of Army Special Forces who they can raise up through the ranks of the agency over a longer period of time.

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GB has been very active in both Afghanistan and Iraq during the Global War on Terror, but their actions are rarely reported by the press. Even less known is the role that GB played in the Libyan Civil War, when Gaddafi was overthrown after President Obama signed an executive action authorizing clandestine support to rebel factions. Today, GB officers are active in northern Syria with the Kurdish YPG militia, where they provide tactical support in the war against ISIS.

**CIA Special Activities Division (SAD): 12 Things You Never Knew

There are two separate groups that now operate under the CIA:

1. SAD/SOG: The elite unit was established for tactical paramilitary operations.

2. SAD/PAG: The separate group is used for covert political action.

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In addition, its believed that Political Action Group members clandestinely organize various government protests and demonstrations in hostile nations.

Fact-finding report terms Arshad Sharif’s murder ‘targeted’

Ms. Cat

Fact-finding report terms Arshad Sharif’s murder ‘targeted’

ISLAMABAD: A two-member fact-finding team consisting of officers from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has concluded that the murder of senior journalist Arshad Sharif was a “planned targeted assassination” which purportedly involved “transnational characters”.

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The investigators noted that Mr Sharif’s host Waqar [Ahmed], a contractor of the US embassy in Nairobi, was connected with the Kenyan National Intelligence Service (NIS) and international intelligence agencies and police.

Previously:

Arshad Sharif Was Tortured Before Being Gunned Down at Point-Blank Range

Pakistan Suggests Killing Of Journalist In Kenya Was Targeted