India And Sikh Leaders

In June 2023 the leader of a Sikh temple was assassinated in Vancouver. The Canadian Government blamed India, the government of which denied having anything to do with it. There are Sikhs, particularly in Canada, that would like to establish a separate homeland in the Punjab state of India.

We saw my reasons for doubting that the Government of India was behind this assassination in the posting "Assassination In Vancouver", October 2023. More recently there was a plot to assassinate a Sikh leader in New York. While it was Indians behind the plot, it wasn't necessarily the Indian Government or security agency, RAW. The bomb that brought down Flight 182 in 1985 originated in Vancouver and someone who lost a relative on that might be behind the assassination in Vancouver.

I have something else to add that casts doubt on the Government of India being behind it. Dawood Ibrahim, one of the most wanted fugitives in the world, was in the news as possibly having been poisoned while living in Pakistan. Although other sources state that he certainly was not poisoned and the report now seems to be false.

Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian-born Moslem, was a prominent crime figure that is wanted for the March 1993 vehicle bombings in Mumbai that killed over 250 people. The bombings, with twelve bombs in vehicles or attached to scooters or left in luggage, were believed to be part of the uprising that took place when hundreds of Hindus tore down a mosque in Ayodha. 

The Hindus claim that it was a sacred site that was once the site of a very important Hindu temple. When the Mughals ruled northern India they had demolished the temple and replaced it with a mosque. The bombings caused a split between Hindus and Moslems in Dawood Ibrahim's criminal organization and he left the country. Pakistan denies that he is living there but the denial is not widely believed. He is said to be living in a luxurious home in Karachi.

So here is the question. If the Government of India, or it's security agency, was going to kill someone abroad why would it be the leaders of Sikh temples? This probably wouldn't accomplish much to stop any Sikh separatist movement. It would only inflame the situation and create martyrs.

Dawood Ibrahim has been on the run abroad for thirty years. Why wouldn't it be him that the Indian Government was determined to kill. I cannot see that there has been any verified assassination attempts against him. It makes it look like, while the Indian Government pursues fugitives, it doesn't widely practice assassination abroad.