NEW DELHI: Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Monday briefed the heads of missions on the planned terror attack that was foiled with the Nagrota encounter in Jammu and Kashmir and its implications.
“The Heads of Missions were provided with a detailed information docket giving the details of the incident as it transpired as well as list of items and munition that were recovered from terrorists clearly indicating their Pakistani origins. They were also briefed on how the terrorists got into India, which is now clear through the discovery of an underground tunnel in the Samba sector,” a source said.
According to sources, the countries that were briefed included US, Russia, France, Japan, and a few others. This was the first of several briefings by the Ministry of External Affairs.
Other secretaries will also be briefing the Heads of Missions in their areas of jurisdiction, sources said and added that the idea was to share information as widely as possible with the global community.
“It was shared with them how preliminary investigations by the police and intelligence authorities, markings on the recovered AK-47 rifles and other items lead us to believe that the terrorists belonged to Pakistan based Jaish-e- Mohammad,” a source said.
The heads of missions were also briefed about how the incident is a part of Pakistan’s ongoing terror campaign.
“In 2020 alone, we have seen 200 incidents of terrorist violence and neutralisation of 199 terrorists,” a source said and added that details of JeM’s involvement in previous such incidents were also shared.
Sources said it was clear that the terrorists were planning the biggest terror attack in India since Pulwama in February 2019 and the implications can be guessed.
“This is part of ongoing efforts to sabotage the DDC elections and to carry out a terror attack aimed to coincide with the anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes,” the source added.
“The heads of missions were sensitised about our concerns regarding Pakistan’s sustained efforts to destabilise the J&K situation.”