A parliamentary committee has heard stunning allegations from a former translator who claims the Canadian military tried to cover up the fatal shooting of an Afghan man in October 2007.

Malgarai Ahmadshah alleged to MPs in Ottawa that the Canadian military "panicked" and rounded up a half a dozen Afghans between the age of 10 and 90 after the shooting of a man sleeping on the roof of a compound in southern Afghanistan.

Ahmadshah, a Canadian citizen born in Afghanistan, admitted inside the committee room that he did not witness the alleged shooting, but said he was present for the interrogation of detained men afterward.

He said the soldier who allegedly shot the man in the back of the head mistakenly thought he had a pistol.

Ahmadshah, who served as adviser to the former Joint Task Force Commander in Afghanistan from June 2007 to June 2008, acknowledged under a heated round of questioning from Conservative MP Laurie Hawn that he had "no direct evidence" to support his allegations.

During the opposition's round of questioning, Liberal MP Bob Rae asked the witness directly whether he saw the alleged shooting. Rae noted accidental shootings can sometimes happen in battle and reminded the witness that it was important to "differentiate between what he knows and what he thinks."

Ahmadshah testified he was not at the compound during the alleged incident, although he was allowed to see the intelligence report and took part in the interrogation of the detained men. He alleged a member of the military personally described it to him as "murder."

When contacted by CBC News following Ahmadshah's testimony, Michel Gauthier, the now-retired lieutenant-general who was commander of all Canadian Forces overseas at the relevant times of Ahmadshah's allegations, said that due to his upcoming appearance before the Military Police Complaints Commission, he will not be offering any comment.

Canada 'subcontracting torture': witness

He also insisted he passed his allegations that the Canadian military was "subcontracting torture" to the NDS up the chain of command. He also said he "cannot believe" Defence Minister Peter MacKay doesn't know about his allegations.

"I want him to sit across from me look me in the eyes and say he doesn't know," the former translator said.

When Bachand asked whether Ahmadshah believed that Hillier was telling the truth when the general said that Taliban fighters — and not innocent farmers — were detained, the witness replied, "No."

When Hawn asked if Ahmadshad was calling Hillier a liar, Ahmadshad became agitated and accused the Tory MP of trying to put words in his mouth.

Hawn then asked why Ahmadshah would keep working with the Canadian military after these alleged experiences. The witness replied that he did so because he wanted to help his people.

The witness was accompanied by Amir Attiran, a University of Ottawa law professor who has led legal efforts to get the government to release unredacted documents pertaining to the Afghanistan mission.

At one point, Attiran would not let Ahmadshah answer Hawn's question on whether has an ongoing legal action against the government, telling Hawn he could look it up in the court file.