ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch has said that the news related to Indian involvement in an extrajudicial killing in Canada had shown that the country’s “network of extra-territorial killings had now gone global”.
Addressing a weekly briefing here on Wednesday, the spokesperson said that the assassination of a Canadian national on Canadian soil was a blatant violation of international law and the UN principle of state sovereignty.
Responding to the recent statement of having credible evidence about the incident by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Zahra Baloch said that the Canadian PM must have some credible information based on facts before issuing the statement.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was shot dead in his vehicle by two masked gunmen in the busy car park of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in British Columbia, a Canadian province in June this year.
Pakistan Reacts to Indian Atrocities
The spokesperson further said that India had a poor track record for decades, whereas the country’s intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) had been actively involved in abductions and assassinations in South Asia adding that Pakistan was one of the major victims of such target killings and espionage by RAW.
She recalled that in December 2022, Pakistan issued a detailed dossier providing concrete and irrefutable evidence of India’s involvement in the Lahore attack of June 2021 with some solid proof that the attack was planned and executed by Indian intelligence.
Meanwhile, in 2016, a high-ranking Indian military officer Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav confessed his involvement in directing, financing, and executing terror to harm Pakistan, she said.
Regarding India’s accusation against Pakistan over the Anantnag encounter, she said Pakistan had been stating time and again that India had the “habit of involving Pakistan in anything that happens under its watch, particularly in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Regarding the address of Turkiye’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the UN General Assembly session while supporting the Kashmir cause and proposed talks between India and Pakistan, Baloch said Pakistan had exemplary and brethren ties with Turkiye, adding that Pakistan was ready for talks with India on all issues particularly on the core dispute of Jammu and Kashmir.
“With regard to third-party mediation over the Kashmir dispute, she said that Pakistan always welcomed any such move on the basis of the UN Security Council resolutions and in accordance with the principles of international law. However, she said, India was still involved in continued human rights violations in the IIOJK.
She recalled that the Indian occupation forces in IIOJK killed 68 Kashmiris, including women and children with 13 custodial killings during the first eight months this year adding that 2,900 people including political activists, traders, women, and youth were arbitrarily arrested.
FO in Afghanistan
To a question about the recent letter sent by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar to the leader of the interim government of Afghanistan, Baloch confirmed that the correspondence was made in response to Afghanistan’s congratulatory letter to the caretaker PM on assuming his office.
Commenting over the escalation in Nagorno Karabakh issue, she said Pakistan reaffirms its untiring backing for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, considering Karabakh its sovereign territory.
PM Visit to US
On the visit of the Prime Minister to New York to participate in the UNGA, the spokesperson said a small delegation accompanied him including the foreign minister, foreign secretary, and some senior officials adding that the PM would outline Pakistan’s perspective on a range of regional and global issues including Kashmir during his address on 22nd of September.
Responding to a question on the meetings of the U.S. ambassador to senior officials of the Election Commission followed by his visit to Gwadar, Baloch said the foreign ambassadors in Pakistan were “at liberty to meet the government officials and public figures just as our ambassadors do in other countries.
Relations with Russia
On ties with Russia following a recent news report of Intercept, the spokesperson said both Pakistan and Russia had cordial relations while having robust dialogue and a number of visits taken place recently adding that Pakistan has taken a neutral stance on the dispute between Ukraine and Russia.
