Times for world to accept India is rogue Hindutva terrorist state

 

 

After Canada accused India of involvement in the killing of a separatist Sikh leader on its soil, former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Tuesday it was 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” in July 2020.

Subsequently, Canada said on Monday that 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.

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

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 today, PPP Chairman and ex-foreign minister Bilawal said the interim Foreign Office should take notice of the episode and issue a “clear” statement.

Canada had levelled a “big allegation” against India, he noted, adding that India had been “exposed before the world”.

He further stated: “Till when the international community, particularly our friends in the West, will continue to ignore such events involving India. It is time for the international community to accept that India has become a rogue Hindutva terrorist state.

“They have not only conducted terrorism in [occupied] Kashmir, not only we in Pakistan have caught their spies involved in terrorism in our country, but they have now been caught violating the sovereignty of a Nato-member state.

“This is not only a violation of Canadian sovereignty. This is [also] a violation of international law and international norms. And the PPP calls — but Pakistan should call on the international community to stand with the people of Canada and highlight the atrocities of the religio-fascist state that is today’s India.”