—— Official says Islamabad would also take into confidence members of UNSC about India’s ‘sinister’ campaign
By Anzal Amin
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to reach out to the United States and Canada to brief them about India’s campaign to carry out target assassinations in sheer violation of international law and principles of the UN charter.
Islamabad on Thursday accused India of orchestrating “extra-territorial and extra-judicial” killings in the country. Canada and the United States in the recent past have also alleged India for conducting similar assassinations. In the last two years, over a dozen people were assassinated in mysterious target killings in Pakistan. Most of those who were killed had one thing in common: They were either Kashmiris or linked with its cause and all of them were wanted by India one way or the other.
Pakistan, for so long, kept a mum over those mysterious killings.
However, on Thursday, Foreign Secretary Cyrus Qazi appeared on the media and disclosed that India was behind at least in two cases based on the investigations conducted by the authorities so far. The two target killings involve Shahid Latif, who was killed in Sialkot in October 2023 and Muhammad Riaz, who was murdered in Rawalakot in September the same year. Pakistan, according to the foreign secretary, has credible evidence to link Indian secret agencies with the target killings. An official familiar with the investigations told The Express Tribune on Friday that Pakistan would brief Canada and the US about its investigations. Similarly, it would also take into confidence members of the UNSC about the “sinister” campaign by India.
The official said that India used a very sophisticated and well-organised campaign to take out those targets. The Indian agents, operating from a third country, used petty criminals and people with a “Jihadi mindset” to execute their plans in Pakistan.
They used different techniques. For example, in the case of Muhammad Riaz, an Indian agent tried to trace him by telling the locals that Latif owed Rs20 million to him and he wanted to find his whereabouts. Many local people involved in this sinister campaign were misled and, in some cases, did not even know about the plans of their handlers operating from outside.
The Indian agents through local assets tried to brainwash one Abdullah on religious lines to assassinate Shahid Latif. The official said that Pakistan not only had confessional statements of the accused but had the money trail, linking Indian agents with those killings.
The official emphasised that Pakistan’s move to highlight such cases must not be taken in a “usual, India-Pakistan public posturing.”
“This is a serious issue and a breach of our territorial integrity and sovereignty,” the official added, who would not provide details as to why India was after them.
The official made it clear that India never shared any information about those who got killed in those target assassinations. “Even if someone did a crime, there has to be due process of law. No country would allow anyone to carry out such extra-judicial and extra-territorial killings,” the official stressed.
