India on Tuesday handed over to Pakistan "proof of cross-border origin" of the September 18 Uri terror attack and offered it consular access to the two Muzaffarabad guides arrested for helping with the infiltration of the four slain militants.
Consular access was also offered for a third Pakistani -- a militant held at the international border in Jammu on September 23.
Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar summoned Pakistan's High Commissioner Abdul Basit for the second time since the Uri attack and handed over the evidence to him. Basit dismissed the proof as an attempt by India to divert world attention from alleged violation of rights in Jammu and Kashmir.
Jaishankar gave Basit a diplomatic note, stating that three days after the killing of 18 soldiers, villagers in Uri caught two residents of Pakistan-administered Kashmir who had acted as guides for the four attackers who sneaked into the army camp near the Line of Control (LoC).
The two -- Faizal Hussain Awan, 20, and Yasin Khursheed, 19, both residents of Muzaffarabad -- were handed over to Indian security forces and are now in Indian custody.
"During his interrogation, Awan has deposed to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that they had guided and facilitated the border crossing of the group that perpetrated the September 18 Uri massacre," the Indian demarche said.
Awan identified one of the slain attackers as Hafiz Ahmed, also a resident of Muzaffarabad. "He also revealed details of the two handlers of this operation -- Kabir Awan and Basharat."
The Foreign Secretary told the envoy that on September 23, another Pakistani national, Abdul Qayoom of Sialkot, was apprehended in Molu sector near the India-Pakistan border in Jammu.
"The individual has confessed to undergoing three weeks of training with terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and donating substantial funds to Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, its front organisation," according to the demarche.
"We are willing to provide the Pakistan high commission consular access to these three individuals apprehended in connection with terrorist attacks in India.".
Jaishankar reminded Basit of Pakistan's promise of not allowing its soil for anti-India terrorism. "We would once again strongly urge the government of Pakistan to take seriously (the) commitment. Continuing cross-border terrorist attacks from Pakistan against India are unacceptable."
But Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported that Basit rejected the allegations.
He told Jaishankar that if India was "sincere in carrying out an investigation of the Uri attack then it should not run away from it.
"India should allow independent investigators to carry out an investigation into the attack," the newspaper said.
Ties between the two countries have further deteriorated since the Uri attack -- one of the deadliest on an army camp in Kashmir.
India on Tuesday said it was also considering a review of the Most Favoured Nation Status it had unilaterally given to Pakistan in 1996 -- when insurgency in Kashmir was still at its peak.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take a final call at a review meeting on September 29.
--IANS
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