The Economist 23 September 2023
| Chanakya, a renowned writer and thinker in the fourth-century BC and an advisor to the Mauryan emperor in ancient India, was one of the earliest advocates of espionage as an essential part of statecraft. But India’s covert powers have historically focused on South Asia. The recent accusation from Canada that Indian agents were involved in the murder in Vancouver of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist, could be a sign of new, global ambitions.
After independence, the Indian government relied on the colonial-era Intelligence Bureau (IB) for domestic and foreign spy work. That changed in 1968 when Indira Gandhi, then prime minister, asked R.N. Kao, an IB official who had helped independent Ghana establish its first spy service, to set up a new agency. The result was the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW). In homage, its early officers called themselves “Kaoboys”. RAW quickly became an important instrument of Indian power. It was critical during a war with Pakistan in 1971, when it helped arm and train Bengali insurgents who eventually carved out the state of Bangladesh. In subsequent decades it influenced politics, armed rebels—notably Tamil Tiger separatists in Sri Lanka and Tajik warlords in Afghanistan—and meddled in the Indian diasporas. Its paramilitary unit, manned largely by Tibetan refugees and known as the Special Frontier Force, played a role in recent Sino-Indian skirmishing in the Himalayas. And, like many spy agencies, it participates in the sensitive conversations that diplomats cannot: RAW officials played a key role in backchannel talks with Pakistan’s military and insurgent groups. In fact, the service has near-mythological status in Pakistan, whose leaders see India’s hidden hand behind every mishap. Yet RAW has a middling reputation for actual intelligence gathering, and largely focuses on analysis and covert operations in countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. RAW has been accused of bumping off enemies in South Asia; never so far afield as Canada.“It is out of character for RAW,” says one former intelligence official with knowledge of the agency. India, which called the allegation “absurd”, expelled Canada’s intelligence chief in Delhi and suspended new visas for Canadians. As India grows more confident on the world stage, it may be an indication of things to come. |
