Bilawal censures India for murder on Canadian soil

LAHORE:

Speaking on the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who served as the foreign minister during the coalition government's tenure, on Tuesday said it was about time for the international community to accept that India had become a "rogue Hindutva terrorist state".

The separatist leader, 45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was shot dead outside a Sikh temple on June 18 in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population.

Nijjar supported a Sikh homeland in the form of an independent Khalistani state and was designated by India as a “terrorist” three years ago.

The killing triggered new diplomatic tensions between Ottawa and New Delhi.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described in parliament what he called “credible allegations” that India was connected to Nijjar’s assassination.

Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen was "an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty", Trudeau told the House of Commons in an emergency statement.

Canada then expelled India's top intelligence officer from the country, accusing New Delhi’s spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of playing a role in the murder of the Sikh leader.

In response, India's foreign ministry said it had given a Canadian diplomat five days to leave the country, without disclosing his name or rank.

Earlier, New Delhi also dismissed the Canadian accusation as “absurd and motivated” and urged it instead to take legal action against anti-Indian elements operating from its soil.

Speaking to the media in Lahore, the PPP chairman said the Foreign Office should take notice of the episode and issue a “clear” statement. Bilawal noted that Canada had levelled a “major allegation” against India.

He pointed out that India had been exposed before the world.

Read More: Canada, India expel envoys as diplomatic row over Sikh leader's murder worsens

The former foreign minister raised the question that how long the international community, particularly Pakistan’s friends in the West, would continue to ignore such events involving India.

Observing that New Delhi had resorted to terrorism in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), Bilawal said not only were its spies involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan had been apprehended, but they had now been caught violating the sovereignty of a Nato-member state.

Bilawal continued that the murder of the Sikh leader was not only a violation of Canadian sovereignty but also against international law and norms.

He added that not only the PPP, but the whole of Pakistan should call on the international community to stand with the people of Canada and highlight the atrocities of the “religio-fascist state” that was today’s India.

Commenting on domestic issues, the PPP chairman, while taking a jab at his former coalition partner, complained that the PML-N was not providing a level playing field to his party in terms of the upcoming general elections.

Read More: US concerned at Canada allegations of Sikh murder, urges India to cooperate -official

Bilawal welcomed PML-N supremo and former premier Nawaz Sharif’s decision to return to the country pointing out that the PPP had been advocating for a long time for this move. He hoped that the PML-N supremo would face the courts after his return.

"Our demand for a level playing field is from the PML-N. Ideally, the parties gathered under the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) would have made the demand for elections and moved forward together,” he continued even though the PPP opted not to be part of the alliance.

“[However] the PML-N arranged [in such a manner] so that there isn't a level playing field, so the complaint is also from them. If the complaint was from someone else, I would have named them," Bilawal added.

He further said the right to announce elections was neither with him nor with the establishment but it rested with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

He reiterated his demand that the elections date should be announced immediately.

The PPP chairman said the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) had unanimously demanded that the party should be informed about the election schedule including the polls date.

“We have also empowered [PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali] Zardari to address our reservations about a level playing field, so it is not fit for me to continuously raise this issue,” he continued.

Bilawal expressed his ire that funds were not being released for the budgeted development projects in Sindh, even though schemes allowing judges to purchase interest-free plots in Punjab were being launched.

(With input from agencies)