ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top diplomat said on Thursday that his country possessed “credible evidence” of India’s involvement in “extraterritorial” and “extrajudicial” killings of two of its citizens on Pakistani soil.
Pakistan’s allegations come months after both Canada and the United States separately accused Indian agents of being linked to assassination attempts on their soil.
“We have credible evidence of links between Indian agents and the assassination of two Pakistani nationals on Pakistani soil,” Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Syrus Qazi told reporters at a media briefing in Islamabad.
“The first case is that of the assassination of Shahid Latif on 11 October 2023 in Sialkot and the second case is that of the assassination of Muhammad Riaz in Rawalakot on 8 September 2023.”
Qazi said Indian agents, Yogesh Kumar and Ashok Kumar Anand, were the mastermind of these killings on Pakistani soil, adding these were killing-for-hire cases involving a “sophisticated international setup spread over multiple jurisdictions.”
“Indian agents used technology and safe havens on foreign soil to commit assassinations in Pakistan,” he said.
There was no immediate comment from the Indian foreign ministry on Pakistan’s allegations. New Delhi has in the past rejected Ottawa’s allegations and launched an investigation into US allegations.
Indian operatives recruited, financed, and supported “criminals, terrorists and unsuspecting civilians” to play defined roles in these assassinations, according to the Pakistani diplomat.
“There is also evidence of linkage of these killings with the Indian agents, Yogesh Kumar and Ashok Kumar Anand, as there are confessional statements [of the executors] and their facilitators,” he said, adding Pakistan also had evidence of financial transactions and communications, thus establishing a link between locally hired network and its Indian masterminds.
Pakistan has reached out to the governments of relevant countries whose soil had been used by the Indian agents, according to Qazi.
“There are a few other cases of similar gravity at various stages of investigation,” he said.
These cases reveal the “growing sophistication and brazenness of Indian-sponsored terrorist acts” inside Pakistan, according to the diplomat. They also fit the pattern of similar cases that have come to light in other countries, including Canada and the US.
“Clearly, the Indian network of extra-judicial and extra-territorial killings has become a global phenomenon,” he said, adding that the Indian operatives needed to face justice for the alleged crimes in Pakistan and other countries.
He said the assassination of Pakistani nationals by India was also a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and a breach of the United Nations (UN) Charter.
“India must be held accountable internationally for its blatant violation of international law,” Qazi demanded.
