File photo of Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch
The Foreign Office on Wednesday claimed Canada’s allegation of a “potential link” between Indian intelligence agents and the killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Vancouver was part of pattern of extra-territorial actions perpetrated by the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
Addressing a weekly press briefing, spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said reports of India’s alleged involvement in an extrajudicial killing in Canada showed that New Delhi’s “network of extra-territorial killings had now gone global.” Responding to a query on Pakistan’s position on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s emergency statement in the House of Commons, she said it was “a clear violation of international law and the U.N. principle of state sovereignty.”
Describing it as a “reckless and irresponsible act,” she said it raised questions over India’s reliability as a credible international partner and its demands for enhanced global responsibilities. Recalling that Pakistan had released a comprehensive dossier in December 2022 providing concrete and irrefutable evidence of India’s involvement in a bombing in Lahore attack in June 2021, she alleged Delhi’s intelligence agency had been actively involved in abductions and assassinations across South Asia.
Baloch also recalled the conviction of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, noting he had confessed to directing, financing, and executing terror and sabotage in Pakistan.
To a query on Indian allegations linking Pakistan with the Anantnag encounter in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the spokesperson said India had a “habit of implicating Pakistan in anything that happens under its watch,” especially in the disputed territory. To another question on the level of engagement between Pakistan and India, she said diplomatic missions had reduced their strength to charge d’affaires. “If functional, the DGMO [director general military operations] level also existed between the two countries,” she added.
She said Pakistan was willing to conduct dialogue with India, but only if it covered all pending disputes, including Kashmir. “With regard to third-party mediation, Pakistan has always said that we would welcome it on the IIOJK issue on the basis of the U.N. Security Council resolutions and in accordance with the principles of international law,” she said, while responding to a question on Türkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offering to mediate.
Earlier, Baloch highlighted India’s ongoing human rights violation in IIOJK, saying 68 Kashmiris, including women and children, were killed in the first eight months of 2023 alone. Additionally, she said, 2,900 persons, including political activists, businesspeople, women, and youth, were arbitrarily arrested.
The spokesperson also apprised media of the interim foreign minister’s bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the UNGA summit in New York, noting he had highlighted Pakistan’s principled stance for a two-state solution in the Middle East during a committee meeting of the OIC. “Pakistan strongly condemns the recent storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by a group of extremists under the watch of Israeli occupation forces,” she said, adding it was an “affront to the religious sentiments” of Muslims globally. “Pakistan reiterates its call upon the international community to act in concert to bring an end to Israel’s escalatory practices in the interest of peace, security and stability in the Middle East and beyond,” she added.
To a question, she said Pakistan was in contact with the International Committee of the Red Cross to see how best it could assist the people of Libya after a flood there left nearly 20,000 people dead. She also reiterated Pakistan’s rejection of report alleging the IMF program had been revived in exchange for Islamabad providing arms to Ukraine. “We believe that Russia understands that Pakistan has taken a neutral stance on the dispute between Russia and Ukraine,” she added.