Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar on Tuesday summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to hand over proof that links Pakistan to the recent militant attack in Kashmir’s Uri sector that left 18 Indian soldiers dead on September 18, reported ANI. He was informed that two guides who helped the infiltrators were apprehended by villagers and they are in the custody of Indian security agencies. Jaishankar said such cross-border attacks from Pakistan were unacceptable.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said that one of the guides, 20-year-old Faizal Hussain Awan, is a resident of Potha Jahangir in Pakistan’s Muzzaffarabad, while the other one, 19-year-old Yasin Khurshid, is from Khiliana Kalan in the same district. The city of Muzzaffarabad is also the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He said preliminary investigations have revealed the identity of one of the militants killed in the attack – Hafiz Ahmed, also a resident of Muzaffarabad. Basit was also given information about two handlers involved in the attack.
India believes the attack was orchestrated by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed. However, Pakistan said that the allegations levelled against it are baseless. Pakistan has also held India responsible for the crisis in the Kashmir Valley since the death of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani on July 8. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that the Uri attack could be a fallout of the alleged human rights violations in the region in the past two months.
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