Executive Summary
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- The report critically examines the evolving narrative of “Transnational Repression” (TNR) as it applies to India, positioning it within the broader geopolitical and media dynamics. It highlights how the term, formalized in 2016 and institutionalized in subsequent years by organizations like Freedom House, has been strategically used to frame allegations against India, often centered around its handling of the Khalistan separatist movement.
- Since the latter half of 2023 there have been media reports and instances on how the anti-India interests in the Western countries predominantly in the US, followed by the UK, and Canada have taken place with backing from the respective governments in the name of human rights advocacy.s In between we also observed a number of activities meant to target India in the West. The activities in question include providing a safe haven for the pro-Khalistan movement in the West, especially in countries like the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia.
- The Khalistan movement has been a pressing issue for India for years, which for years has created a range of problems for India, from funding and political support for separatist groups to strained international relations and security concerns. However, over the last 4-5 years, the Khalistan movement has soared up in the West against India. The pro-Khalistani groups such as Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) which is based in the US, and also has offices in Canada, the UK, and Australia have been at the center of anti-India and pro-Khalistan activities over the last few years. From organizing the ‘Khalistan Referendum’ in these countries, the SFJ has been able to have a free pass by the security agencies and authorities while the notorious group continues to issue death threats and threats of terror attacks on Indian airlines with impunity.
- We analyzed over 300 articles, alongside Op-Eds and reports by global media, using the Khalistani trope to target India. The articles, reports & Op-Eds were laced with recurring biases and adverse and compromised narratives against India. During the analysis, we found that one of the most used buzzwords in those articles was ‘Transnational Repression’. A total of 170 articles targeting India used a common word ‘Transnational Repression’ at the same time legitimizing the Khalistani agenda against India in their reporting.
- Similarly, we analysed over 200K posts on social media including X, Facebook, and Instagram on Transnational Repression (TNR) since 2020-21. The discourse on TNR seemed to be vast in the aspects of its global understanding. However, the usage of Transnational Repression was seen to be used against India since 2021. Cut to 2023-24, the terminology was based used widely by the US and Canada governments which in turn became basis for hundreds of posts accusing India of TNR.
- The Khalistani movement which is also seen as the ‘Sikh Independence’ movement by the Western media has been weaponized against the Indian government using the tropes of ‘Transnational Repression’ and whatnot. The killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the chief of another pro-Khalistani separatist group Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) in June 2023, and an alleged assassination plot of SFJ chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannun became focal points for pressuring India globally.
- The Justin Trudeau-led government in Canada with help from its Five Eyes ally, the US has been working very closely to pressure India of carrying out ‘Transnational repression’ on their respective soil. But the ‘transnational repression’ rhetoric is not part of an isolated event like that of the Khalistani issue to target India. In 2023 as well as in 2024, Canada called upon its Five Eyes member nations i.e., the UK, US, Australia, and New Zealand to pressure India to cooperate in the legal process and investigation by Canada on the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
- All these countries duly gave their support to Canada amid the ruining diplomatic ties between India and Canada. This is one of the most classic case studies of a synchronized network and alliance working together against India. On June 16, 2024, Australia ABC.net.au and Four Corners published a documentary alleging that Indian government officials targeted Khalistanis in Australia. The same has been the story for the US, Canada, and UK.
- The Transnational Repression which was labeled by the then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken against India, was then weaponized by the Canadian government and global media to label India in an orchestrated manner. The ‘Transnational Repression’ has been used to target India for the last few years now. However, it picked up as a global trend only in 2023-24 using the Khalistan issue as an instrument against India. Organizations like the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, and even the 2023 Human Rights Report from the US State Department published reports accusing India of the growing trend of transnational repression.
- The report critically examines the evolving narrative of “Transnational Repression” (TNR) as it applies to India, positioning it within the broader geopolitical and media dynamics. It highlights how the term, formalized in 2016 and institutionalized in subsequent years by organizations like Freedom House, has been strategically used to frame allegations against India, often centered around its handling of the Khalistan separatist movement.
- Freedom House, which claims to be an independent NGO, is the central organization behind the Transnational Repression project since its formulation in 2018-19. Freedom House receives millions of dollars in funding from the US government and other fronts, including Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and the Achilles & Bodman Foundation.
- Freedom House used the same Khalistani trope for its Transnational Repression reports on India. In 2021, India was accused of Transnational Repression for the first time by Freedom House which published its first report on TNR ‘Out of Sight, Not out of Reach’, in February 2021 and raked the case of Khalistani terrorist Paramjeet Singh Pamma, a member of Khalistani terror organizations including Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and KTF. Freedom House accused Indian authorities of committing Transnational Repression against Pamma, at the same time it gave a clean chit to the terror angle of the Khalistani terrorist who is currently based in Birmingham, UK. Notably, during the same time Freedom House published its report on TNR, Punjab Police in India foiled a Khalistani terror plot by arresting two militants in UP & Punjab planning assassinations in India which was masterminded by Pamma.
- Cases like Paramjeet Singh Pamma’s highlight the selective framing of Khalistani leaders as activists. Despite INTERPOL Red Notices and evidence of extremist activities, organizations like Freedom House and European bodies portrayed them as victims of Indian repression. Similarly, the US government passed laws supporting Transnational Repression and to counter the use of INTERPOL by other countries.
- U.S. legislative and institutional efforts, such as the TRAP Act and Human Rights Reports, intertwined with media narratives to frame India’s security measures as transnational repression. These efforts also extended support to Khalistani organizations under the guise of defending democratic rights.
- The US and Canada-based human rights advocacy groups including the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR), and Sikh Coalition also contributed to this narrative significantly to target India. These groups published resource guides and FAQs on transnational repression by India a year ago! Cut to 2024, Freedom House published a special report on Transnational Repression which essentially legitimized these anti-India groups and individuals by accusing India of TNR.
- Now, the key groups of this transnational network of organizations, such as IAMC, HfHR, and Sikh Coalition, have mirror fronts/ branches/ chapters in the USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK. IAMC’s mirror front UK Indian Muslim Council (UK-IMC) and International Council of Indian Muslims (ICIM) in Canada are one such example. Similarly, HfHR has its branches in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. There are similar examples of mirrored organizations in these Five Eyes countries which are also in investigation; and how these organizations work in sync, following the same modus operandi to influence the Western policymakers against India.
- The systematic alignment of media, think tanks, and advocacy groups with Western geopolitical interests has weaponized TNR to challenge India’s sovereignty. The Khalistan issue, once a domestic security concern, has been internationalized as a tool for strategic narratives against India.
- These anti-India groups engage in anti-India lobbying efforts and Congressional Briefings and thereby engage with members of Congress, parliamentarians, and other officials in each country to push narratives (Hindutva, Fascism, Islamophobia) against India.
Introduction
Over the last few months, there have been several incidents and subsequent news reports on them seemed to have tainted India’s diplomatic persona globally. For a layman, these incidents might seem to have happened in isolation starting September 2023, which are as follows:
On September 18, 2023, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the government of India of carrying out the killing of a Sikh leader in British Columbia in June 2023. Various media outlets including the New York Times, Associated Press, BBC, New York Times, The Guardian, and CBS News etc. reported this, The ‘Sikh leader’ referred to by the Western media was Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a pro-Khalistan ideologue who was already on Canada’s no-fly list and bank accounts frozen by the Canadian agencies. Cut to the present, in October 2024 Canadian PM Justin Trudeau while testifying in front of the foreign interference injury alluded to the fact that allegations was made based on no “hard evidence” but just “intelligence.”
On September 22, 2023, United States State Department Secretary Antony Blinken held a press conference and spoke about the accusations leveled by the Canadian PM against the government of India on September 18, 2023. This was later used to level a new brand of narrative against India.
On November 22, 2023, the UK-based daily newspaper broke an exclusive story headlined, ‘US thwarted plot to kill Sikh separatist on American soil’ reporting how the US authorities thwarted a conspiracy to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American and Canadian citizen in the US. Pannun was subsequently interviewed by TIME magazine and other US, Australian, and Canadian media.
On June 13, 2024, the UK-based Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) released a report ‘Return of RealSikhs: the fake network targeting Sikhs across the world despite platform takedowns.’ The OSINT investigative report claimed to expose a nexus of at least 53 identities and more than 100 accounts across various social platforms running a coordinated campaign against Sikhs living abroad. The report appeared to be an effort to overlook and at the same time promote the agenda of the Khalistan movement against India in the name of exposing an insignificant number of social media handles.
CIR claims to be an independent organization, Disinfolab found that both of its two founders: Ross Burley and Adam Rutland, have been associated with the UK government. However, it was not the first time CIR had published such a report. Earlier on November 24, 2021, CIR published a report titled ‘Revealed: “Real Sikh” influence network pushing Indian nationalism’ published on November 24, 2021. The report was an attempt at whitewashing the actual problem of Khalistani extremism against India while undermining India’s sovereignty.
On June 17, 2024, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), an Australian public broadcasting service via its Four Corners investigative series published an investigative article and a documentary ‘Spies, secrets and Threats: How the Modi regime targets people overseas’. The report, co-authored by former South Asia correspondent Avani Dias, alleged that the Indian government was surveilling Sikh individuals in Australia. While the investigation portrayed certain Khalistani figures like Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and Hardeep Singh Nijjar as activists rather than separatists, it notably minimized the concerns surrounding the Khalistan movement and appeared to present a favorable view of pro-Khalistan elements operating within Australia.
On October 15, 2024, New Zealand became the first country to respond to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s call for support from the Five Eyes Alliance nations. While with a disclaimer, NZ backed Canada in its allegations against India.
On November 17, 2024, Khalistani separatists organized the Khalistan referendum for the first time in New Zealand. It is to be noted that all aforementioned nations, viz, the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada, have already had several rounds of the Khalistan Referendum being conducted.
These recent geopolitical tensions surrounding India have generated significant public attention, with surface-level observations potentially suggesting impropriety on India’s part. However, a deeper analysis by regional experts and those specializing in South Asian affairs reveals a more nuanced situation.
The systematic and sequential nature of these developments suggests careful orchestration rather than isolated incidents, particularly when examined through the lens of intelligence and security cooperation frameworks.
If one collated and summarised how it happened strategically, like in clockwork, he/she would attribute it to witnessing bearing hallmarks of the Five Eyes methodology—the Five Eyes alliance in action.