Indian National Investigative Agency (NIA) has decided to submit a closure report as it failed to find any evidence against two men from Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK), accused of facilitating the Uri army base attack.
This decision gravely undermines the Indian claims of Pakistani involvement in the Uri attack. India’s Ministry of External Affair blamed Pakistan for the September 18 incident, in which at least 18 Indian soldiers died.
Pakistan’s High CommissionerAbdul Basit was called in by the Indian foreign secretary; he was informed about the arrest of two facilitators who helped four gunmen to enter Indian for the purpose of attacking Indian army’s headquarters in Uri.
India’s newswire service ANI reported on Sunday that “Faisal Hussain Awan and Ahsan Khursheed — will be sent back, as the charges framed against them could not be corroborated.”
The pair will be handed back to Pakistani authorities as a part of goodwill agreement between Pakistan and India; Indian soldier Chandu Babulal Chohan, who deserted his post at Line of Control (LoC) due to personal grievances against his commanders, was also handed over to Indian military officials at the Wagah border.
Earlier, the ANI, Indian news agency, quoted an NIA statement of September 27, 2016, saying: “Awan and Khursheed had, during their interrogation, disclosed that they were tasked by Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) commanders to facilitate the infiltration of a group of four JeM cadres who carried out the Uri Army camp attack.”