Hardeep Singh’s killing: Bilawal calls India ‘rogue, terrorist state’

LAHORE: Former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday asserted that India has become a “rogue and terrorist state” after Canada accused New Delhi of involvement in the killing of a separatist Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on its soil, ARY News reported.

Speaking to journalists in Lahore, the PPP chairman said that India had been “exposed before the world” after Canadian prime minister levelled a “big allegation” against New Delhi of killing a Canadian citizen on its soil.

“Till when the international community will continue to ignore such events involving India,” Bilawal said, adding: “It is time for the international community, particularly the West, to accept that India has become rogue and terrorist state”.

The former foreign minister further said that the Foreign Office should also take notice of the episode and issue a “clear” statement.

He also said that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) stand with the people of Canada and “Pakistan should highlight the atrocities of India before the world.”

It is pertinent to mention here that separatist leader, 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” in July 2020.

Subsequently, Canada on Monday said it was “actively pursuing credible allegations” linking Indian government agents to the murder of the Sikh separatist leader.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in an emergency statement to the House of Commons that any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen was “an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty”.

Ottawa also expelled India’s top intelligence agent and accused it of a role in the murder of a Sikh separatist leader.

Following the expulsion, India said today it had expelled a Canadian diplomat with five days’ notice to leave the country.

Meanwhile, 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.