Spying and killings by intelligence agencies in foreign countries:
What is the big deal?
By Nitya Chakraborty
The allegation by the Canadian Prime Minister Justine Trudeau involving Indian diplomats of the high commission in the killing of the Sikh extremist Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, last year and also in the assassination attempt on another Sikh lawyer G S Pannun in USA, has created a storm in the global diplomatic community. India-Canadian ties have reached its lowest ebb with the expulsion of diplomats by both governments. What is more, the name of the Indian Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, has come up in the mails accessed by the Canadian authorities in the course of investigation.
For India, and, especially, for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the diplomatic situation is terrible, with India’s trusted strategic partner United States endorsing the Canadian position. Additionally, Canada has also got the support of its other allies of the ‘Five Eyes’ group — UK, Australia and New Zealand. This means that most of the West is positioned against India on this spat with Canada. India is a member of four-nation QUAD led by the US. Two QUAD members USA and Australia have taken positions against India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now seeing himself in a position where he is isolated from the Global South as well as the Global North, which he cultivated in the last ten years through his New Look foreign policy, has deserted him. The US, which heads the most sprawling and deadly spy agency in the world, the CIA, and has been carrying out extrajudicial executions in foreign countries, especially, the Middle East and Latin America for decades, is now giving sermons to India on this alleged killing by RAW agents in Canada. That too of an anti-India extremist known for his role in inciting violence in India.
What is the big deal about the Indian government taking action in foreign land against known terrorists? Every country does it; the only thing, it has to be foolproof and not messy. The fault with the Narendra Modi Government is that its officials and agents messed up, and the work was so shoddy that even the instructions made by the Home Minister could not be kept secret; those were intercepted by the Canadians.
Just imagine how Indira Gandhi led India to win the India-Pakistan war in December 1971 not only through bigger military might, but also by perfect use of Indian intelligence agencies, who befooled the CIA agents about the strategy for war to liberate Bangladesh. Indira Gandhi used a RAW agent to secure the release of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after the end of the war. It was done through a lady friend of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Indira Gandhi had her strategy team led by PN Haksar, consisting of T N Kaul, K B Lal and R.C. Dutta. The RAW agents were performing at their peak under the leadership of PMO. Compared to that, the present PMO consists of men far less in calibre. Modi’s PMO has hijacked all the foreign policy directions, sidelining the external affairs ministry. Foreign policy and diplomacy have been the victim of myopic political approach.
In fact, spying has been a staple since ancient times, ever since the small kingdoms came into existence. In India, the Rig Veda, the most influential document of Vedic age, contains references to spies or “Spasa” being used by the god Varuna for acquiring information. Historians take it as the oldest existing reference to espionage. As far as epics go, Mahabharata and Ramayana, both ancient classics, are full of references to spy networks that were an essential part of statecraft. Similarly, the ancient Greek and Roman periods contain tales full of spies whose lives have been depicted in great epics of that period. Hanuman of Ramayana was the golden spy in the war of Ram against Ravana.
Our ancient treatise Manusmriti and Kautilya’s Arthashastra elaborate on facets of the working of spies and diplomats. Koutilya’s Arthashastra has one hundred and fifty parts that make up this document, over 50 of them have references to espionage and the use of spies. In the work, ancient Indian thinker Kautilya elaborates on the precise ways in which a king is to rule, including modes of administration, means of warfare, diplomatic strategy and economic policies. He provides what is perhaps the first ever professional classification for spies.
There are two primary types of spies in his programme, both of whom directly report to the king. They are the Samstha, or stationary spies, and the Sanchara, or roaming spies. The Samsthas are usually stationed in other kingdoms, suspicious areas and forest lands. Intelligence gathering seems to be their primary objective, having infiltrated into critical areas under the guise of civilians. They send reports and updates to their home base on the military strength as also internal developments in the ruling families of rival states. The Sanchara, on the other hand, were used for more violent purposes. They were meant to be adept in science, the use of poisons, combat, and disguise.
In the Manusmriti, the legal compendium of ancient Indian thought, diplomats are not just given permission to engage in intelligence gathering, it is listed out as one of their core duties. According to Manusmriti, the inherent role of a diplomat was to observe the rival king, both in terms of policy and personal reputation. The diplomat is to then pre-empt and guess what the next moves made by antagonistic States would be, sending back regular updates.
That way, the Indian government led by Narendra Modi acted as per ancient Indian texts in Canada. The only thing is that the officials and agents botched up. Like every sphere of life, nothing succeeds like success. Mess in Canada made by the Modi regime is only a reminder of that dictum. (IPA Service)