Uri attack: India unlikely to give Pathankot-like offer to Pak

New Delhi: Unlike in the case of Pathankot terror attack, India's offer to Pakistan to verify involvement of its nationals in the Uri terror strike will be "limited" to providing finger prints and DNA samples of terrorists killed in the incident.

Briefing reporters a day after Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar summoned Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit and issued a demarche over the Uri attack, MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said "irrefutable evidence" was shown to the envoy that points to the involvement of Pak-based groups and individuals or territory under Pakistan control.

Noting that the Foreign Secretary conveyed details of the various items that had been recovered from the terrorists, he said, Jaishankar "showed the Pakistan High Commissioner the GPS tracking devices, pictures of Pakistan made grenades and the finger prints of one of the terrorists.

"Foreign Secretary offered that in case the Government of Pakistan wishes to investigate these cross-border attacks, we are ready to provide finger prints and DNA samples of terrorists killed in the Uri and Poonch incidents.

"I would like to underline that our offer is limited to providing finger prints and DNA evidence to Pakistan so that Pakistan can verify it against their national database (NADRA) and confirm that the terrorists who attacked the Indian facilities were indeed Pakistani nationals," implying thereby, that no Pakistan team will not be allowed in Uri unlike the Pathankot strike when a probe team from there had visited the attack site.

Foreign Secretary had also underlined that this terrorist attack was the most recent in a series launched from across the border that has steadily escalated in recent weeks.

Jaishankar also listed some of the incidents including a foiled infiltration bid in Nowgam sector on July 30 that resulted in the death of two terrorists and two Indian soldiers, one along LoC in Macchil sector on August 8 resulting in the death of three BSF personnel and one terrorist, and an encounter in Srinagar on August 15 in which a CRPF commandant was killed and 11 CRPF personnel were injured.

The nature and frequency of this infiltration across the LoC of heavily-armed terrorists charged with attacking Indian targets bely the claim of the Pakistani DGMO that the border has 'water-tight arrangements' from the Pakistani side, the Foreign Secretary conveyed to Basit.

"On the contrary, such bids cannot be continuously mounted without the active and collaborative support of Pakistani security forces," he told the Pakistan envoy.

Swarup said, "It is, of course, widely known that the training and arming of terrorists is freely taking place in Pakistan and Indian territory under its control.

"Acknowledged leaders of terrorist organisations have also been given free rein and parade around even in Islamabad. Such terrorism is not only directed against India but is now increasingly recognised as a larger regional concern."

The Foreign Secretary also reminded Basit of the capture of Pakistani terrorist Bahadur Ali "to whom we had even offered consular access to Pakistan". 

Asked if India has given a "timeframe" for Pakistan to respond to its offer to provide fingerprints and DNA of the terrorists involved in Uri and Poonch attacks, Swarup said considering eight years have passed since Mumbai terror attack trial has been dragging, India has not put any timeframe.
 It is in the interest of Pakistan to act swiftly against terrorists who they harbour, he added.

On whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Pakistan to attend SAARC Summit in early November, he remained non-committal, saying, "every question does not have a yes or no answer."

Asked about Pakistan not allowing India to transit wheat to Afghanistan, he said Pakistan is also a WTO member and is infringing on a fellow WTO member Afghanistan's right for transit, which is against global norms.