Uri attack: Parrikar says "quite serious" about punishment

New Delhi, Sep 21: Stepping up its diplomatic offensive against Pakistan after the Uri attack, India today summoned its envoy here bringing to his notice the evidence recovered on involvement of Pak-based terrorists even as the government spoke of being "quite serious" on punishing the perpetrators.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and told him that the latest terrorist attack in Uri only underlines that the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan remains active.

As the government faced more calls for a strong action against Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS) which weighed responses to the Sunday attack that killed 18 jawans.

Modi also went into a huddle with top BJP leaders. Jaishankar told Basit about the content of GPS recovered 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 and grenades with Pakistani markings as evidence of Pakistan's role in Uri attack.

"If the Government of Pakistan wishes to investigate these cross-border attacks, India is ready to provide fingerprints and DNA samples of terrorists killed in the Uri and Poonch incidents," he told the Pakistan envoy.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the government is "quite serious" about punishing those responsible for the deadly attack as it will "not sleep over" terror being pushed into India from across the border. "We take proper reading of everything and I don't think Prime Minister's initial words that 'those responsible will be punished', will go as a mere statement.

How to punish, that is for us to work out. We are quite serious about it," Parrikar said at an event. Jaishankar while summoning Basit demanded that Pakistan lives up to its public commitment to refrain from supporting and sponsoring terrorism against India.

He also reminded Basit that the Pakistan government 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," he told Basit. In a release, External Affairs Ministry 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, resulting in the elimination of thirty one terrorists and preventing their intended acts of terrorism.

Foreign Secretary also reminded him that even as he spoke two engagements at the LoC were ongoing," it said. Apart from GPS content, India has recovered a number of items that included communication matrix sheets and equipment, other made in Pakistan stuff like food, medicines and clothes which were conveyed to Basit.

"We now expect a response from the Government of Pakistan," Jaishankar told him.

PTI