Uri attack: India gives evidence of Pak hand

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar summons Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit

The Narendra Modi government on Tuesday continued with its efforts to bring down the domestic political temperature over Sunday’s terror attack in Uri that killed 18 Indian soldiers, but also worked to isolate Pakistan internationally. This included presenting Pakistan with the evidence that the terror attack had indeed emanated from its territory.

In Lucknow, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah addressed a public rally, spoke at length about the Modi government’s efforts to bring relief to the poor and farmers of Uttar Pradesh, but didn’t utter a word about the Uri attack. In New Delhi, the PM held a meeting of senior ministers to discuss the Uri attack. In the evening, the PM met senior ministers as well as BJP leaders.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar claimed the government would “not sleep over” terror being pushed into India from across the border. On Uri attack, Parrikar said: “Obviously, something must have been wrong. I will not go into the details of it. Obviously, it is a very sensitive matter… When something goes wrong, while you try to correct it, you should also ensure it does not happen again.”

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar summoned Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit. He reminded Basit that Islamabad had committed in January 2004 not to 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 serious concern,” said Jaishankar, according to a external affairs ministry statement.

Jaishankar demanded that Pakistan live up to its public commitment to refrain from supporting and sponsoring terrorism against India. He said that in 2016, beginning with the Pathankot airbase attack in January, there have been continuous attempts by armed terrorists to cross LoC and international boundary. He said 17 such attempts have been stopped at around LoC, resulting in the elimination of 31 terrorists.

He said in recent incidents, things recovered from terrorists included GPS devices 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 food, medicines and clothes with ‘Made in Pakistan’ tags. “If the Government of Pakistan wishes to investigate these cross-border attacks, India is ready to provide finger prints and DNA samples of terrorists killed in the Uri and Poonch incidents,” he said. Jaishankar said India expected a response from Pakistan.

Meanwhile, in Pakistan its national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines on Tuesday cancelled flights to northern Pakistani cities due to “air space restrictions” in the wake of the Uri terrorist attack. Officials said that Pakistani warplanes might be in the air to keep vigil due to Indo-Pak tensions after the Uri attack.

In New York, Pakistan said its nuclear programme “cannot be limited” and the world should first put an end to India’s atomic activities, a day after the US asked Islamabad to exercise restraint in its nuclear ambitions. In Beijing, China advised the two neighbours to exercise restraint and avoid escalating tensions. It also advised India and Pakistan to have a dialogue.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, the BRICS member nations sought a ‘firm’ legal framework under the UN for concerted efforts to fight terrorism effectively and called for expediting negotiations to the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism. “They strongly condemned the recent several attacks, against some BRICS countries, including that in India,” a joint communique released after the meeting said. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are the five members of the BRICS grouping, which is to hold its summit meeting in mid-October in Goa.

In Washington, US Senators Mark Warner and Tom Cotton, Congressmen Ted Poe and Brad Sherman condemned the Uri attack and Pakistan’s role.

At his last address to the UN General Assembly, Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon did not mention the issue that Pakistan raised — about violence in Kashmir — while mentioning the strife in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Chad and Yemen.