Pakistan not surprised over Canada's allegation against India

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Pakistan has said that it is not "surprised" by Canada's allegation that the Indian government was involved in the murder of a Sikh activist on its soil.

Foreign Secretary Syrus Qazi, while addressing a news briefing in New York on Tuesday night, urged the international community to recognize the ways of the country it considered “a supposedly indispensable ally.”

“We are aware of the nature of our eastern neighbor, we know what they are capable of … so it is not a surprise for us,” said Qazi, who is accompanying Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar to attend the UN General Assembly session.

Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead on June 18 in Surrey, British Columbia, in front of a Sikh temple. So far, no arrests have been made.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday there are "credible allegations" that the Indian government was behind Nijjar's shooting death.

Meanwhile, members of the Sikh community held a protest demonstration in Pakistan’s northeastern Lahore city against Nijjar's killing.

Carrying banners and placards engraved with anti-India slogans, Sikh leaders urged the international community to hold New Delhi "accountable" for Nijjar's "brutal" murder.

Nijjar was a vocal supporter of independence for a Khalistani state in the Punjab region. The Indian government has repeatedly insisted that Nijjar was a terrorist – a label his supporters denied – and at the recent G-20 summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chided Trudeau for allowing Sikh separatist protests in Canada.