NEW DELHI: Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar on Tuesday claimed of apprehending two Muzaffarabad-based ‘guides’ that facilitated the attack on Indian army base in Uri.
Indian External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted details of the guides – identifying them as Potha Jahangir’s resident’s Gul Akbar’s 20-year-old son Faizal Hussain and Yasin Khurshid, 19, son of Muhammad Khurshid and a resident of Khiliana Kalan.
“The foreign secretary called Pakistan High Commissioner Basit today and presented him with proof of cross border interference,” he said.
It was informed that the two guides who helped the infiltration were apprehended by local villagers and are now in Indian custody, Swarup added.
Swarup alleged that the preliminary interrogation revealed details of the handlers and identified them as Mohammad Kabir Awan and Basharat. He further said that the ‘foreign secretary terms continuing cross-border terrorist attacks from Pakistan against India as unacceptable’.
Pakistani envoy Abdul Basit said that India is trying to divert the world’s attention from its atrocities in India-held Kashmir (IHK) by blaming the Uri attack on Pakistan.
“If India is sincere in carrying out an investigation of the Uri attack then it should not run away from it and furthermore should allow independent investigators to carry out an investigation as well,” Basit said.
“It was reminded that Government of Pakistan had made a solemn commitment in January 2004 to not allow its soil or territory under its control to be used for terrorism against India,” an Indian statement read.
The assault – in which four commando-style gunmen burst into the brigade headquarters in Uri at 5:30 am on September 18 – was among the deadliest in Kashmir and sharply intensified tension between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
