ISLAMABAD:
According to the Foreign Office, India’s “network of extra-territorial killings had now gone global” after the news of the country’s involvement in an extrajudicial execution in Canada emerged on Wednesday.
Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch stated at a weekly press briefing that India’s assassination of a Canadian national on Canadian soil was a clear breach of international law and the UN principle of state sovereignty.
Responding to a question on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claim that he had “credible evidence” linking the Indian state to the death of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the spokeswoman said that the claim needed to be supported by “some facts.”
Nijjar, 45, was shot and killed by two unknown assailants while sitting in his car in the crowded parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in British Columbia, Canada.
The episode, the spokesperson added, was a “reckless and irresponsible act” that questioned India’s credibility as a global partner and its claims to greater global responsibilities. The Indian spy agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), she maintained, had been involved in kidnappings and murders throughout South Asia for decades.
She claimed that RAW continued to conduct espionage and targeted assassinations within Pakistan. She recalled that India was blamed for the June 2021 attack on Lahore after Pakistan produced a dossier in December 2022 that provided indisputable evidence of India’s involvement. The strike was conceived and carried out by Indian intelligence.
She claimed that in 2016, Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav, a high-ranking Indian military officer, admitted to his role in planning, funding, and carrying out acts of terror and sabotage in Pakistan.
She addressed India’s allegations that Pakistan was involved in the Anantnag encounter, saying that Pakistan had often said that India had a “habit of implicating Pakistan in anything that happens under its watch, especially in IIOJK (Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir).”
The principal channel of contact between Pakistan and India, i.e. at the level of diplomatic missions, has been reduced in strength from charge d’affaires to charge d’affaires, she said when asked about engagement with India at the levels of the foreign ministries and Director General Military Operations (DGMOs).
She also noted the existence of a DGMO level between the two countries, should one exist and be operational.
When asked about Anwaarul Haq Kakar’s recent letter to the leader of Afghanistan’s interim government, she stated that the “routine” correspondence was made in response to Afghanistan’s congratulatory message to the caretaker PM on assuming his post.
These are the conventions of diplomacy. She explained that the letter from our prime minister was meant to send a message of goodwill and friendship between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Diplomacy, according to Baloch, entails approaching the other party anytime there is a contentious topic. As the foreign minister put it, “for us, it is important that we continue to engage with Afghanistan to discuss all issues that are concerned to Pakistan.”
Syrus Qazi, Pakistan’s foreign minister, has indicated that his country is “not surprised” by Canada’s claims that India was responsible for the murder of a Canadian Sikh leader. This is to stress that Islamabad is familiar with the character and actions of its eastern neighbour.
He made the comments during a press conference in New York on Tuesday night, citing the case of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, a serving Naval officer who entered Pakistan covertly, as an example of Pakistan’s own experiences with India. Jadhav admitted to being an espionage for Pakistan. “Based on our experience with India,” Qazi stressed, “we are not surprised by the allegations made by the Canadian PM.”
Qazi continued by saying that Pakistan had interacted with India for over seven decades, therefore the two countries were quite familiar with one another. Recalling Pakistan’s defence of its independence in the face of India’s intrusion in February 2019, he said his country will do it again if required.
Qazi asserted, “Whenever there is instability in Pakistan, India often had a hand in it,” emphasising the necessity for the international community to comprehend India’s activities abroad.
