India’s network of extra-territorial killings has now gone global: FO

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday termed India’s alleged involvement in the killing of a prominent Sikh-Canadian activist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, as a clear violation of international law and the UN principle of state sovereignty, saying New Delhi’s network of extra-territorial killings has now gone global.

Speaking at her weekly media briefing in response to journalists’ questions, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that the news of Indian involvement in an extrajudicial killing in Canada has shown that India’s network of extra-territorial killings has now gone global.

For decades, she stated that Indian intelligence agency RAW has been actively involved in abductions and assassinations in South Asia, adding that Pakistan has remained a target of a series of targeted killings and espionage by RAW.

She added that in December 2022, Pakistan released a comprehensive dossier providing concrete and irrefutable evidence of India’s involvement in the Lahore attack of June 2021.

The attack was planned and executed by Indian intelligence, she said, adding that in 2016, a high-ranking Indian military officer Commander Kulbhushan Yadav confessed his involvement in directing, financing and executing terror and sabotage in Pakistan.

“India’s assassination of a Canadian national on Canadian soil is a clear violation of international law and the UN principle of state sovereignty. It is also a reckless and irresponsible act that calls into question India’s reliability as a credible international partner and its claims for enhanced global responsibilities,” she added.

On Monday, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the country’s parliament that Canadian security agencies are investigating “credible allegations of a potential link” between Indian government agents and the killing of a prominent Sikh-Canadian activist earlier this year, adding that he personally conveyed “deep concerns” to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi earlier this month.

It was followed by a diplomatic row between the two countries, Canada expelling an Indian diplomat – the head of India’s RAW in Canada – while in response India also asked a senior Canadian diplomat in New Delhi to leave the country within five days.

To a question about India’s potential threat to the lives of prominent Pakistanis and Kashmiris leaders living abroad following the assassination of the Sikh leader in Canada, Baloch said that Pakistan expects that Pakistani nationals or Kashmiris wherever they are, will be protected by the host governments. “It is their responsibility to ensure their safety and security,” she added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023