Recent happenings around the world suggest that countries have decided to ignore the rules-based order and do as they please. Issues that once required diplomacy are now being resolved with the blatant use of force. A recent investigative report by the British newspaper, ‘The Guardian’, provides one example of how countries are increasingly disrespecting the law. According to the report, the Indian government has assassinated at least 20 individuals in Pakistan since 2020, according to interviews with Indian intelligence officers with the paper and the documents shared by Pakistan, which shows the involvement of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) in the attacks. Hostilities between India and Pakistan reached their peak after the Pulwama attack in 2019. India claimed that it then carried out a surgical strike in Balakot, Pakistan to wipe out ‘terrorist hideouts’. This claim later became a global embarrassment when Pakistan proved that the ‘target’ was a dense forest. This arrogant approach brought the two nuclear-armed countries to the brink of war, but fortunately sanity prevailed, and the two sides avoided escalation. The country is now apparently using civilians to carry out attacks against monetary compensation.
India’s misadventures in Pakistan are often seen by critics as the country’s ruling party’s attempt to keep its support base, which strongly hates the idea of peace between the two states. But last year, India went a step ahead and targeted an Indian dissenter and Sikh leader in Canada, drawing the ire of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who strongly protested India’s acts of violence. Later, reports revealed that the country tried a similar assassination attempt in the US but failed. India’s irrational behaviour is not an anomaly. Over the years, the West’s hypocritical treatment has become more visible to the rest of the world. Countries like the only democracy in the MENA region, for example, are given a free pass to carry out assassination attempts against their targets in other countries, violating the sanctity of international borders. The US too has carried out indiscriminate drone attacks against targets in foreign countries, with no consideration to the lives of civilians affected by such attacks. From Afghanistan to Iraq, these countries became a testing lab for the West to test their high-tech weapons and ammunition.
India, which is now on its path to becoming a major economic power, is following the same playbook. And since it provides a thriving market for consumer goods – all the way from lifestyle products and food to tech – and can help the West curtail China’s growing dominance, the Western world is exercising caution and preferring not to condemn India for its violations. But India is overstepping its boundaries. This is much like countries it draws inspiration from – according to the report, an Indian officer said “India had drawn inspiration from intelligence agencies such as Israel’s Mossad and Russia’s KGB, which have been linked to extrajudicial killings on foreign soil". Pakistan has always offered India to turn to the negotiation table. India may be high on power today, but its ill-thought-out approach can lead to grave consequences. To avoid isolation on the international stage, India should go back to the power of diplomacy and refrain from using violence.