India gives Pak evidence of its involvement in Uri terror attack

Two men were nabbed by Indian investigating agencies who have acted as local guides for Pak trained terrorists

Hours after Islamabad insinuated at the UN General Assembly that India had self-inflicted the Uri terror attack, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar today summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to present him with details of two men nabbed by Indian investigating agencies who have acted as local guides for the Pakistan trained terrorists to infiltrate across the Line of Control.

This was India's second demarche, a protest conveyed through diplomatic channels, since the Uri terror attack on September 18. It also had details of the 'handlers' of the terrorists who carried out the Uri terror attack.

In further efforts at putting pressure on Islamabad, sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a meeting to review India's 20-year-old decision to grant Pakistan the state of 'Most Favoured Nation', or MFN.

The PM, on Monday, had chaired a meeting to review the 56-year-old Indus Water Treaty. Today, in Islamabad, Sartaj Aziz, advisor to the Pakistan PM on Foreign Affairs, said Pakistan will approach the UN and the International Court of Justice if India suspends the 56-year-old Indus Water Treaty.

Aziz said revocation of the treaty can be taken as an "act of war". "The international law states that India cannot unilaterally separate itself from the treaty," Aziz told the Pakistan National Assembly. The treaty was signed in 1960 for the sharing of the water of six rivers - Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum.

Amid these increased tensions in bilateral ties, Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif chaired a security meeting in Peshawar. "We are closely monitoring the developments on the eastern border (Indo-Pakistan border) and we are fully prepared to respond," military spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said after the meeting.

In its demarche, New Delhi told Islamabad that Indian security forces successfully foiled two infiltration bids across the Line of Control in the Naugam and Uri sectors on September 20.

"Since then, local villagers in the Uri sector apprehended on 21 September and handed over to Indian security forces two individuals from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir who have acted as guides for terrorists and helped them infiltrate across the LoC," it said.

According to the demarche, the two are: Faizal Hussain Awan, 20 years, son of Gul Akbar, resident of Potha Jahangir in Muzaffarabad and Yasin Khursheed, 19 years, son of Mohammed Khurshid, resident of Khiliana Kalan, also in Muzaffarabad.

The demarche stated that Awan told the National Investigation Agency that they had guided and facilitated the border crossing of the group that perpetrated the 18 September Uri massacre. Awan identified Hafiz Ahmed, son of Feroz, resident of Dharbang, Muzaffarabad, as one of the slain terrorists. Awan, according to the demarche, also revealed details of the two handlers of this operation - Mohd Kabir Awan and Basharat.

It said that on September 23 Pakistani national Abdul Qayoom, resident of Sialkot, was nabbed in Molu sector. "The individual has confessed to undergoing three weeks of training with the terrorist group Lashkar e Toiba (LeT) and donating substantial funds to Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, their front organization," the demarche said.

"We are willing to provide the Pakistan High Commission consular access to these three individuals apprehended in connection with terrorist attacks in India," the demarche served on Basit stated. It said the nabbing of these men and their interrogation "underline the cross-border infiltration" that Jaishankar had also raised last week with Basit.

"We would once again strongly urge the Government of Pakistan to take seriously its commitment not to allow terrorist attacks against India from its soil and territory under its control. Continuing cross-border terrorist attacks from Pakistan against India are unacceptable," Jaishankar told the Pakistani High Commissioner.