New Delhi names ultras, handlers in Uri attack, says Islamabad must act

Today's summoning comes amidst India weighing the options to hit back at Pakistan in the aftermath of the Uri attack.

NEW DELHI: A day after Union Minister Sushma Swaraj lambasted Pakistan at the UN General Assembly, India on Tuesday handed over the names and details of terrorists involved in the Uri attack to Islamabad’s envoy in Delhi.

Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar lodged a protest against continuous cross-border terrorism with Pakistan’s envoy to India, Abdul Basit. He also handed over names of terrorists, their handlers and guides to Basit, who was summoned for the second time since the attack. In the earlier demarche, India had offered to provide finger prints and DNA samples of the slain terrorits.

Jaishankar also apprised Basit of the arrest of youngsters who guided the terrorists. Local villagers in the Uri district had apprehended two people from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and handed them over to the security forces on September 21.

According to the officials, both of them — Faizal Hussain Awan and Yasin Khursheed from Muzaffarabad in PoK — acted as guides to militants who attacked the Uri Army base. 

Awan is said to have told the NIA they “guided and facilitated” the group that carried out the Uri massacre to cross the border. “He identified one of the slain attackers as Hafiz Ahmed, son of Feroz from the village of Dharbang in Muzaffarabad,” Jaishankar told Basit.

Offering consular access to the three individuals, the Foreign Secretary reiterated India’s demand for cessation of cross-border terrorist attacks. “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,” he said.

According to sources, the NIA has collected DNA samples and fingerprints of the bodies of the slain militants. “They said bodies of three militants were charred while one was intact. The weapons, ammunition and other items recovered from the slain militants are also in the NIA’s possession,” said a source. Senior army officials of the Uri base were also questioned. “Besides, the NIA team has also quizzed the civilian porters of the Army to know whether anyone of them had given inside information to the militants,” the source added.