Alleged attempted Pannun assassination has "hallmark of Indian state sanction"; "US intelligence agencies" believe RAW Chief was "fully in the picture" but less confident about India's NSA: Gerry Shih, Bureau Chief, Washington Post

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In an interview to discuss Monday’s lengthy story in the Washington Post, which he was one of the authors of, which reveals details of the alleged attempted assassination of one of the leaders of the Khalistan movement, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, whom India considers a terrorist, and which is alleged to be a result of a plot hatched in India, the Chief of Bureau of the Washington Post has said that it has “the hallmark of Indian state sanction”. The Post says: “U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that the operation targeting Pannun was approved by the RAW chief at the time, Samant Goel”. However, Gerry Shih reveals that American agencies are less confident of any role played by India’s NSA, Ajit Doval, in the alleged attempted Pannun assassination. His article says: “CIA analysts have assessed that Doval probably knew of or approved RAW’s plans to kill Sikhs his government considered terrorists” but carefully adds there is no smoking gun and he adds US agencies are less confident about Ajit Doval’s role than they are about Samant Goel’s.



This raises the question what if anything did the Prime Minister know? Gerry Shih in his article says: “US and Western security officials said it’s unlikely that RAW would have launched such operations without a clear understanding that doing so would be met with approval by the prime minister.”



Gerry Shih made clear that the United States is not the only country that has expressed concern about RAW. His article reveals that Australia, Germany and Britain have had “clashes” between RAW and domestic security services and “RAW officers and agents have faced arrest, expulsion and reprimand” in these countries. In 2014-15, when Samant Goel was RAW Station Chief in London, “Britain’s domestic secret services delivered warnings to Goel” on many occasions. Gerry Shih believes they even considered expelling him but, in the end, did not do so.



Gerry Shih’s article reveals that “A US delegation that travelled to New Delhi several weeks ago for an update on the probe (into the Pannun matter) … returned with little evidence of meaningful progress”. He says the US is frustrated even dissatisfied with the rate of progress made by the Indian side in its investigation.



Gerry Shih refutes Randhir Jaiswal the official spokesman’s claim that the Washington Post story is “unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations”. He also refutes that its “irresponsible”. He says The Post had given the Indian government sufficient and ample opportunity to respond to their story and would have carried their response had it been made available to them before publishing.

I am only giving you the main broad points made by Gerry Shih. The most important thing about this interview is that he explains the details and revelations carried by the Washington Post on the 29th of April when its story was published. This is your opportunity to find out what that major story said. He also discusses in great detail the alleged role of Samant Goel, then RAW Chief, and Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor, and what US and Western officials believe is the truth about Prime Minister Modi’s knowledge of this affair.




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