By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top diplomat said on Thursday that his country possessed credible evidence of India’s involvement in the killings of two of its citizens on Pakistani soil, in what he called a “sophisticated international setup” of assassination plots.
The allegations, which India swiftly denied, come months after both Canada and the United States separately accused Indian agents of being linked to assassination attempts on their soil.
Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Syrus Qazi Qazi identified the two victims as Shahid Latif and Muhammad Riaz, who were shot dead in separate incidents in 2023 near the border with India.
Latif was killed on Oct. 11, 2023, in Sialkot, a city near the border with India, and Riaz on Sept. 8, 2023, in Rawalakot, a town in the Pakistan-controlled part of the disputed Himalayan region.
Qazi said the two Indian agents, Yogesh Kumar and Ashok Kumar Anand, orchestrated the killings from abroad, using technology and safe havens to recruit, finance and support “criminals, terrorists and unsuspecting civilians” to carry out the attacks.
“We have credible evidence of links between Indian agents and the assassination of two Pakistani nationals on Pakistani soil,” Qazi told reporters at a media briefing in Islamabad. “We have documentary, financial and forensic evidence of the involvement of the two Indian agents who masterminded these assassinations.”
“These cases reveal the growing sophistication and brazenness of Indian-sponsored terrorist acts inside Pakistan,” Qazi said. “They also fit the pattern of similar cases that have come to light in other countries, including Canada and the U.S.”
The diplomat said local operatives, hired by the Indian agents, were on trial in Pakistan, and that the governments of the countries where the Indian agents operated had been notified.
He did not name those countries or provide any details about the motives or methods of the killings.
Qazi said Pakistan had evidence of a few other cases of “similar gravity” at various stages of investigation, and that the Indian network of “extrajudicial and extraterritorial killings” had become a global phenomenon.
“There are a few other cases of similar gravity at various stages of investigation,” he said. “India must be held accountable internationally for its blatant violation of international law.”
“Clearly, the Indian network of extra-judicial and extra-territorial killings has become a global phenomenon.
Reuters reported that the India’s foreign ministry said the accusation was an attempt by Pakistan to peddle “false and malicious anti-India propaganda” and divert attention from its own support for terrorism.
In 2023, Canada and the US separately accused Indian agents of being linked to assassination attempts on their soil.
Canada said it had arrested four men who were allegedly hired by an Indian intelligence officer to kill a Canadian resident who was critical of India’s policies in Kashmir.
The US said it had charged two men who were allegedly working for an Indian intelligence officer to track and harm members of the Sikh community in the US and elsewhere.
The two nuclear-armed neighbors have a long history of hostility and have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, mainly over Kashmir, which both claim in full but rule in part.
Both India and Pakistan have accused each other of running covert operations and spy networks in various countries, often resulting in diplomatic expulsions and arrests.
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