U.S. DOUBLE-STANDARD ON TERROR WEAKENING INDO-PACIFIC SECURITY

Senior US officials are blissfully unconcerned about acts of terror and murder in India by networks which Pannun was known to be in frequent contact with, thereby exhibiting the syndrome of 'My terrorist is a good terrorist'.

- MADHAV NALAPAT & ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Concerns over the possibility of deportation of Indian national Nikhil Gupta, a resident of Delhi—who was arrested on 30 June 2023 by security officials in the Czech Republic—to the United States have increased. This is after unconfirmed reports emerged claiming that he was likely working for a “rogue” official of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India’s external intelligence agency. Such a deportation would have an immediate negative impact on existing public support for strong India-US ties. It would indicate that the Czechs have buckled under US pressure to commit what, in effect, is an act of Iraq-Afghanistan style “rendition”. Such an attempt at forced transfer to the US is similar to that sought by the “leader of the free world” from the UK government in the matter of the battered and belaboured Australian truth teller, Julian Assange. Coincidentally, Gupta was arrested by the Czechs, apparently on the orders of officials in the United States, just days after Ravi Sinha was appointed as the new R&AW chief in place of Samant Kumar Goyal on 19 June 2023. Sinha is known for his efficiency and conscientious work ethic.