According to The Guardian, Islamabad condemned on Saturday the “provocative” comments made by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in a televised interview yesterday, in which he seemed to acknowledge that New Delhi was conducting an assassination operation in Pakistan.
“Any terrorist from a neighboring nation who attempts to cause trouble in India or engage in terrorist activity here would receive an appropriate response. Singh stated as much in an interview with Indian TV news network News18 on Friday. “If he escapes to Pakistan, we will go to Pakistan and kill him there.”
Singh made these comments in response to an investigative investigation by The Guardian that was released on Thursday and claimed that at least 20 people had been killed in Pakistan since 2020 at the hands of Indian intelligence agents. The study validated the new policy of killing opponents and dissidents on foreign land, citing information observed by Indian officers and provided by Pakistani security services. The accusations were refuted by the Ministry of External Affairs of India.
Singh stated that this approach is “right” and that “India has the capability to do so,” as stated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Pakistan has also begun to realize this.
Singh’s remarks mark the first time India has acknowledged any killings carried out by its agents abroad, according to a follow-up piece that The Guardian published on Friday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had mentioned what he claimed to be solid proof of a possible connection between the killing of a Sikh separatist leader and Indian spies in October 2023. The US Department of Justice said the next month that an unsuccessful attempt to kill a Sikh separatist on US grounds was masterminded by an officer in the Indian government.
In a press conference on January 25, Foreign Secretary Syrus Sajjad Qazi stated that there was “credible evidence” linking Indian agents to the murders of two Pakistani citizens in Sialkot and Rawalakot.
Pakistan has formally denounced the Indian defense minister’s “provocative remarks” in a statement released today by the Foreign Office.
Pakistan had presented “irrefutable evidence” of India’s involvement in extrajudicial executions and transnational assassinations on Pakistani soil, according to the Foreign Office, which was disclosed in the Foreign Secretary’s press conference on January 25.
The FO claimed that India had admitted guilt by saying it was ready to extrajudiciously kill more civilians within Pakistan who had been wrongly labeled as “terrorists.” “India’s horrific and unlawful acts must be held accountable by the international community.”
The statement continued, “Pakistan is unwavering in its determination to protect its sovereignty from any kind of aggression, as evidenced by its forceful reaction to India’s careless invasion in February 2019, which exposed India’s baseless assertions of military might.
The FO emphasized that such “myopic and irresponsible behavior” not only undermined regional peace but also hampered the prospects of constructive engagement in the long run. It said that India’s ruling dispensation “habitually resort to hateful rhetoric to fuel hyper-nationalistic sentiments, unapologetically exploiting such discourse for electoral gains.”
Pakistan has consistently shown that it is dedicated to promoting regional peace. We should not, however, let our wish for peace be misinterpreted. It added, “History attests to Pakistan’s steadfast commitment and ability to protect and defend itself.
The Indian network of extrajudicial and extraterritorial killings was described by the Foreign Office yesterday as a “global phenomenon” in need of a concerted international response.
The FO had declared on Friday that India’s killing of Pakistani nationals on Pakistani territory constituted a flagrant transgression of both the nation’s sovereignty and the UN Charter.
“With striking similarities to the pattern witnessed in other countries, notably Canada and the United States, these events showed the rising complexity and brazenness of Indian-sponsored terrorist acts inside Pakistan,” the FO added.
The criminals, enablers, backers, and promoters of these extralegal and extraterritorial killings must be brought to justice. The FO has stated that India needed to face international consequences for its flagrant breach of international law.
