New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has dismissed allegations levelled by Pakistan’s foreign secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi who Thursday accused India of assassinating at least two Pakistani nationals, wanted by India for terrorism — Shahid Latif and Mohammad Riaz — in Pakistan in September and October 2023.
During a televised media briefing, Qazi said, “We have credible evidence of the links between Indian agents and the assassination of two Pakistani nationals on Pakistani soil. These are killings for hire cases, involving a sophisticated international setup spread over multiple jurisdictions.”
Qazi alleged that two Indians by the name of Yogesh Kumar and Ashok Kumar Anand, whose passport details were released to the media during, hired individuals in foreign countries to carry out assassinations.
Evidence cited by him includes the purported confession of an alleged shooter.
Qazi also cited “jubilation” in certain sections of Indian social media “gloating” over the killings through their posts celebrating the deaths of the two individuals as ‘evidence’ to support his claims.
🔴LIVE: Media Briefing by Foreign Secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi https://t.co/cIeQ1Y6BNl
— Spokesperson 🇵🇰 MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) January 25, 2024
He claimed that Indian ‘agents’ used technology and “safe havens on foreign soil” to carry out assassinations in Pakistan. He also claimed that individuals were “recruited” using “social media, talent spotters and fake Daesh (Islamic State in Syria and Levant) accounts” to carry out these alleged killings.
The two cases mentioned by him were the killings of Shahid Latif outside a mosque in Sialkot and Mohammad Riaz in Rawalakot.
Latif, a designated terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), was killed on 10 October 2023. He was considered to be a master infiltrator and a drone specialist as reported by ThePrint earlier. A Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) operative, he was the alleged key conspirator behind the 2016 Pathankot and 2022 Sunjwan attacks and was held prisoner in Jammu between 1994 and 2010.
He was also wanted for the hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight on 24 December 1999.
Reacting to the allegations levelled by Qazi, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement Thursday evening: “We have seen media reports regarding certain remarks by the Pakistan Foreign Secretary. It is Pakistan’s latest attempt at peddling false and malicious anti-India propaganda. As the world knows, Pakistan has long been the epicentre of terrorism, organised crime, and illegal transnational activities.
“India and many other countries have publicly warned Pakistan cautioning that it would be consumed by its own culture of terror and violence. Pakistan will reap what it sows. To blame others for its own misdeeds can neither be a justification nor a solution.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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