ISLAMABAD: Responding to Canadian accusations that India may have been involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in suburban Vancouver, Pakistan said on Wednesday the charges called into question New Delhi’s reliability as a credible international partner and showed that its “network of extra-territorial killings” had gone global.
On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the slaying of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh leader who was killed by masked gunmen in June in Surrey, outside Vancouver. For years, India has said Nijjar, a Canadian citizen born in India, has links to terrorism, an allegation Nijjar denied.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has rejected outright Canada’s suspicions that New Delhi’s agents had links to the murder.
“India’s assassination of a Canadian national on Canadian soil is a clear violation of international law and the UN principle of state sovereignty,” the foreign ministry for Pakistan, India’s arch-rival and neighbor, said. “It is also a reckless and irresponsible act that calls into question India’s reliability as a credible international partner and its claims for enhanced global responsibilities.”
The foreign office said the news of Indian involvement in Nijjar’s killing showed that “India’s network of extra-territorial killings has now gone global.”
“For decades, Indian intelligence agency RAW has been actively involved in abductions and assassinations in South Asia,” the foreign office said, saying Pakistan had itself been a target of espionage and target killings by RAW.
In December 2022, Pakistan released a dossier accusing Indian intelligence of being behind an attack in Lahore in June 2021. In 2016, Pakistan arrested former Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav and convicted him of planning espionage and sabotage and sentenced him to death. Jadhav is still in a Pakistani prison and India says he is innocent.
Speaking to journalists in New York on Tuesday on the sidelines of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Pakistani Foreign Secretary said Islamabad was “not surprised” by Canada’s allegations against the Indian government.
“We have captured one of [India’s] serving naval intelligence officers [Jadhav] on our soil, who is in our custody at the moment, and he has admitted that he had arrived here to create instability and all types of mischief,” Qazi said.
“The situation is developing, so let’s see, but according to our experience, we are not surprised.”
‘Reckless and irresponsible’: Pakistan hits out at India over link to killing of Sikh separatist leader
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‘Reckless and irresponsible’: Pakistan hits out at India over link to killing of Sikh separatist leader
- Canadian PM Trudeau has said there was “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in slaying of Hardeep Singh Nijjar
- Pakistani foreign office says Pakistan had for years been a target of espionage and target killings by Indian intelligence
Pakistan’s OGDC ramps up unconventional gas plans
- Pakistan has long been viewed as having potential in tight and shale gas but commercial output has yet to be proved
- OGDC says has tripled tight-gas study area to 4,500 square km after new seismic, reservoir analysis indicates potential
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s state-run Oil & Gas Development Company is planning a major expansion of unconventional gas developments from early next year, aiming to boost production and reduce reliance on imported liquefied natural gas.
Pakistan has long been viewed as having potential in both tight and shale gas, which are trapped in rock and can only be released with specialized drilling, but commercial output has yet to be proved.
Managing Director Ahmed Lak told Reuters that OGDC had tripled its tight-gas study area to 4,500 square kilometers (1,737 square miles) after new seismic and reservoir analysis indicated larger potential. Phase two of a technical evaluation will finish by end-January, followed by full development plans.
The renewed push comes after US President Donald Trump said Pakistan held “massive” oil reserves in July, a statement analysts said lacked credible geological evidence, but which prompted Islamabad to underscore that it is pursuing its own efforts to unlock unconventional resources.
“We started with 85 wells, but the footprint has expanded massively,” Lak said, adding that OGDC’s next five-year plan would look “drastically different.”
Early results point to a “significant” resource across parts of Sindh and Balochistan, where multiple reservoirs show tight-gas characteristics, he said.
SHALE PILOT RAMPS UP
OGDC is also fast-tracking its shale program, shifting from a single test well to a five- to six-well plan in 2026–27, with expected flows of 3–4 million standard cubic feet per day (mmcfd) per well.
If successful, the development could scale to hundreds or even more than 1,000 wells, Lak said.
He said shale alone could eventually add 600 mmcfd to 1 billion standard cubic feet per day of incremental supply, though partners would be needed if the pilot proves viable.
The company is open to partners “on a reciprocal basis,” potentially exchanging acreage abroad for participation in Pakistan, he said.
A 2015 US Energy Information Administration study estimated Pakistan had 9.1 billion barrels of technically recoverable shale oil, the largest such resource outside China and the United States.
A 2022 assessment found parts of the Indus Basin geologically comparable to North American shale plays, though analysts say commercial viability still hinges on better geomechanical data, expanded fracking capacity and water availability.
OGDC plans to begin drilling a deep-water offshore well in the Indus Basin, known as the Deepal prospect, in the fourth quarter of 2026, Lak said. In October, Turkiye’s TPAO with PPL and its consortium partners, including OGDC, were awarded a block for offshore exploration.
A combination of weak gas demand, rising solar uptake and a rigid LNG import schedule has created a surplus of gas that forced OGDC to curb output and pushed Pakistan to divert cargoes from Italy’s ENI and seek revised terms with Qatar.
