3 Days After Uri Attack, India Hands Pakistan Envoy Evidence And A Warning

New Delhi: India today summoned Pakistan's High Commissioner Abdul Basit and presented to him, evidence of Pakistan's role in the Uri terror attack as well as other strikes like Pathankot.

Foreign Secretary Jaishankar called in Mr Basit, and according to the Ministry of External Affairs, "reminded him that the Government of Pakistan had made a solemn commitment in January 2004 to not allow its soil or territory under its control to be used for terrorism against India. The persistent and growing violation of this undertaking is a matter of very serious concern."
 In a statement, the foreign ministry has said, "This year, beginning with the Pathankot airbase attack, there have been continuous attempts by armed terrorists to cross the LoC and International Boundary in order to carry out attacks in India. Seventeen such attempts have been interdicted at or around the LoC".

The MEA said, "In the recent incidents, we have recovered a number of items that include GPS from the bodies of terrorists with coordinates that indicate the point and time of infiltration across the LoC and the subsequent route to the terror attack site; grenades with Pakistani markings; communication matrix sheets; communication equipment; and other stores made in Pakistan, including food, medicines and clothes."

The Foreign Secretary told the Pakistan High Commissioner that India "is ready to provide fingerprints and DNA samples of terrorists killed in the Uri and Poonch incidents," saying they now waited for a response from Islamabad.

This is the second time this year India has offered evidence to Pakistan. On the earlier occasion - after the Pathankot attack in which 7 armymen had died - a team from Pakistan had visited the attack site and was taken through the evidence. But the team later denied that there was conclusive evidence of the terrorists being from Pakistan.

After the meeting, foreign ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted:

We demand that Pakistan lives up to its public commitment to refrain from supporting & sponsoring terrorism against India #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/fytV5fcgl2

- Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) September 21, 2016

India had blamed Pakistan for the Uri attack, in which 18 soldiers died, after investigators found the four dead terrorists carrying grenades and food with Pakistani markings. The relations between the two countries, frayed since the unrest broke out in Kashmir following the death of terrorist Burhan Wani, had nosedived sharply following the Uri attack.