NEW YORK: Pakistan isn’t surprised by the allegations Canada levelled against the Indian government over the killing of a Sikh leader, said Foreign Secretary Syrus Qazi here on Wednesday.
During a media briefing at the sidelines of the 78th UNGA session in New York, he said India’s terrorism in Canada was not a matter of surprise for Pakistan.
The Pakistani top diplomat’s statement comes after Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the Indian government could be “involved” in the killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June this year.
Syrus Qazi said Pakistan didn’t find anything unusual in the Canadian Premier’s allegations as Pakistan had arrested a serving Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Yadav, an operative of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) from Balochistan in March 2016.
The Indian spy was later sentenced to death after he was found guilty of espionage and terror activities to destabilise Pakistan.
Meanwhile, The son of a Sikh leader killed earlier this year says he feels a sense of relief after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government on Monday of being involved in the assassination.
Balraj Sing Nijjar, 21, was speaking publicly for the first time since the shooting dead of his father Hardeep, 45, on June 18, shortly after evening prayers at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia.
Trudeau said the House of Commons that intelligence reports had found credible links between the Indian government agents and the killing, though no one has been charged yet.
The Indian government had previously offered a reward for Hardeep’s arrest, accusing the gurdwara president of heading a violent separatist movement for an independent Sikh state called Khalistan.
Balraj, the elder of Hardeep’s two sons, said his family and close friends always suspected the Indian government was behind his father’s brazen killing.
Balraj Nijjar firther said, “It was just a matter of time when the truth would come out, so when I heard that yesterday there was a sense of relief, you know its funny coming to the public eye that the Indian government is involved”.
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