Daily Times

Pakistan strongly condemned on Saturday the “provocative” remarks by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in a televised interview and said it was an “admission of guilt”.

Singh, in an interview with broadcaster CNN News18, said India will enter Pakistan to kill anyone who escapes over the border after trying to carry out terrorist activities in the country. “If they run away to Pakistan, we will enter Pakistan to kill them.”

Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan is fully committed to protecting its sovereignty against any aggression and that the international community should hold India accountable for its heinous and illegal actions.

“India’s assertion of its preparedness to extra-judiciously execute more civilians, arbitrarily pronounced as ‘terrorists’, inside Pakistan constitutes a clear admission of culpability,” the FO said.

“It is imperative for the international community to hold India accountable for its heinous and illegal actions.” Baloch added that on January 25, Pakistan provided irrefutable evidence of Indian extrajudicial killings and transnational assassinations on Pakistani soil.

She further said that in February 2019, India received a strong response to aggression and that the move exposed New Delhi’s hollow claims of military superiority. “Indian rulers are resorting to hateful rhetoric for electoral gains and this irresponsible behaviour harms regional peace,” the spokesperson said.

“Pakistan has always demonstrated its commitment to peace in the region. However, our desire for peace should not be misconstrued. History attests to Pakistan’s firm resolve and ability to protect and defend itself,” the FO statement said in conclusion.

The remarks by the Indian defence minister followed The Guardian’s investigative report, which said at least 20 individuals had been murdered in Pakistan since 2020 at the behest of Indian intelligence agency RAW, citing intelligence officials from both countries, as well as documents shared by Pakistani investigators.

Separately, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif warned India on Saturday of a befitting response in the event of any misadventure against Pakistan.

Referring to the capture and subsequent release of Abhinandan, a pilot from India, the defence minister stated that one of the Indian pilots, who was apprehended during India’s attempt to infiltrate Pakistan a few years ago, was later freed by Pakistan as an act of charity toward its arch-rival.

He cautioned India of similar consequences if it were to engage in another misadventure.

Asif suggested that all the boasting and fiery rhetoric by Indian ministers these days were merely tactics for electioneering in the neighboring country. “India’s anti-Pakistani statements are aimed at gaining attention from the public,” he added.

While emphasising that Pakistan does not seek tensions in the region, the minister warned India of a tit-for-tat response in case of any misadventure.

The minister also noted that India was sponsoring terror activities both inside Pakistan and abroad.

Asif urged India to exercise caution in making such statements and to refrain from taking any actions during the election period that could lead to unfavourable consequences.

“Let us hope that their plane does not crash again, forcing us to once more extend charity by sending back their pilot,” remarked the minister.

The FO, in an earlier statement on Friday, stated that the Indian network of extra-judicial and extra-territorial killings was now a “global phenomenon” and warned that India’s assassination of the Pakistanis on Pakistani soil was a clear violation of the country’s sovereignty and a breach of the UN Charter.

The statement highlighted a press conference by Foreign Secretary Syrus Sajjad Qazi in January, in which he had said that there was “credible evidence” of links between Indian agents and the assassination of two Pakistani nationals in Sialkot and Rawalakot.

“These cases exposed the increasing sophistication and brazenness of Indian-sponsored terrorist acts inside Pakistan, with striking similarities to the pattern observed in other countries, including Canada and the United States,” the Foreign Office said.

“It is critical to bring to justice the perpetrators, facilitators, financiers and sponsors of these extrajudicial and extraterritorial killings. India must be held accountable internationally for its blatant violation of international law,” the Foreign Office added.