India denounced on Thursday as "false and malicious" propaganda Islamabad's charges linking "Indian agents" to the killing of two Pakistani citizens in Sialkot and Rawalakot last year.
Pakistan's foreign ministry claimed earlier on Thursday that it had "credible evidence" linking "Indian agents" to the killings of two of its citizens, Shahid Latif and Riyaz Ahmad. The two, who were linked to the terrorist groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, were wanted in India.
Pakistan's Foreign Secretary, Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi, accused New Delhi of carrying out "extra-territorial and extra-judicial killings" inside Pakistan, Scroll.in reported.
While the Indian External Affairs Ministry did not address the Pakistani claims, it did state that it has heard media reports about "certain remarks by Pakistan's foreign secretary".
“It is Pakistan’s latest attempt at peddling false and malicious anti-India propaganda,” ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement. “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.”
Jaiswal said, “Pakistan will reap what it sows”. “To blame others for its own misdeeds can neither be a justification nor a solution,” he added.
Latif, a top aide to Jaish-e-Mohammad head Masood Azhar, was accused of masterminding the 2016 attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab, according to PTI. On October 11, he was fatally shot in a mosque in Sialkot.
Ahmad, a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, is accused of being the chief conspirator behind the January 2023 Dhangri terror assault in Jammu and Kashmir, according to PTI. On September 8, he was killed in Rawalakot, Pakistan's controlled Kashmir.
In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that intelligence agencies were investigating "credible allegations" linking Indian government agents to the death of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed by masked gunmen on June 18 near Vancouver. However, New Delhi dismissed Canada's allegations as "absurd and motivated," referring to them as Ottawa’s attempt to shift focus from “Khalistani terrorists and extremists who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.