Daily Times

From the looks of it, the rest of the world has had enough of rogue shenanigans committed by the likes of India that would not stop at anything to send their message across. On the heels of an uproar by Canada and a chilling indictment in New York, Pakistan’s foreign secretary has unveiled access to “documentary, financial and forensic” evidence that puts Indian agents at the centre of assassinations of at least two Pakistani nationals.

Soon after the murders of Shahid Latif and Muhammad Riaz, the relevant law enforcement authorities were seen making a low-pitched connection to a “hostile intelligence agency” but Thursday’s heated presser has come as an iron-clad manifestation of Pakistan’s outrage against New Delhi for continuing with its Mossad-inspired operations.

An uncanny similarity exists between what went on in the two cities in Punjab and PM Modi’s much-talked-about wild goose chase in North America. The jury is still out on whether these killings were his officials desperate to seek small victories on foreign frontiers to add to his appeal in the election year or an act committed with his public blessings.

However, one thing is certain: India cannot run from answering its case anymore. Its External Affairs Ministry’s attempts to water down the startling claims as “peddling (of) false and malicious anti-India propoganda” might have had a chance at winning sympathies had the Western countries too not suffered from its “defensive offence” doctrine.

The onus now lies on Pakistan’s foreign service to raise the phenomenon of extra-territorial killings on global platforms. India cannot go around murdering people in other countries, strengthened by a sense of impunity.

Even if it believes certain characters have played a key role in facilitating or orchestrating terrorism in its backyard, there is no shortage of international institutions or protocols to raise its case. No sovereign country can sit back and watch it plan out a killing spree against its civilians just because someone in the chain believes they are to be blamed for its losing grip on its kitchen affairs. *