Uri attack was "self-generated" by India, claims Pakistan Defence Minister

Accusing India of being involved in the many terror attacks that have plagued Pakistan for several years, Defence Minister Khawaja M Asif has claimed that the deadly terror strike on an Army base in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir was "self-generated" by India.

"India has been involved for several years in the many attacks that have taken place in Pakistan. And I firmly believe that the entire Uri incident is self generated by India," Asif said in an interview to Samaa TV channel.

Following the Uri attack, the Defence Minister in a late night tweet had stated that blaming Pakistan for Uri and any attempt to escalate tension to deflect attention from state terrorism in Kashmir, will "prove expensive for Indians".

Earlier, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had stated that Indian's assertion that Islamabad was behind the Uri attack, was New Delhi's "long-time habit".

However, three days after the Uri attack in which 18 Army soldiers lost their lives, India summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and presented evidence of Pakistan's role in the Uri terror attack as well as other strikes like Pathankot.

Displaying a list of proofs nailing Pakistan's involvement in the recent terror attack, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Vikas Swarup emphasised that a number of items that include:

1. 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.

2. Grenades with Pakistani markings.

3. Communication matrix sheets

4. Communication equipment

5. Other stores made in Pakistan, including food, medicines and clothes.

Calling on the Pakistan government to take active involvement into the investigation of the attacks, the MEA spokesperson said that if Islamabad wishes to investigate cross border attacks, India is ready to provide fingerprints and DNA samples of those terrorists killed in the Uri and Poonch incidents.