In an astounding claim, a top Pakistani diplomat has said that the names of the two men detained by the government for being guides for the terrorists who attacked the 12th Infantry Brigade headquarters in Uri figure on a list of detainees the Indian government has handed to Pakistan High Commission for their possible repatriation.
The development, if true, could mark an admission of their innocence on part of the Indian government. The Ministry of External Affairs had claimed that the two detainees – Ahsan Khursheed alias DC, a resident of Khaliana Kalan and his school friend Faisal Hussain Awan, a resident of Pottha Jahangir – both in PoK, had confessed to facilitating the infiltration of four Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists who had carried out the Uri attack.
According to a report in The Indian Express, the Pakistani official said the two detainees were also given access to a team from the Pakistan High Commission on December 5 when its officials held a routine meeting with prisoners from their country in Amritsar.
“Pakistan High Commission staff indeed met with the two juveniles on December 5 and were told they could be repatriated home,” a spokesperson for the mission told The Indian Express. “We are in the process of taking next steps”.
While government officials confirmed the meeting, they declined to comment on whether the names of the two detainees figured in the list of several Pakistani nationals who could be repatriated home.
The Pakistani diplomat further said that this was in fact the third meeting after New Delhi and Jaipur, in which detainees from Pakistan from various regional prisons were brought for either verification or repatriation.
Interestingly, the meetings and their reported inclusion in the list of those who could be repatriated come without Pakistan having made any request in this regard. The government has confirmed that Pakistan had not requested for the repatriation of the two suspects, possibly fearing reciprocal requests from New Delhi, the report said.
The arrested men were initially believed to have told their interrogators that they had inadvertently crossed the LoC.
On the other hand, an MEA spokesperson said that he was unaware of the December 5 meeting of the Pakistan High Commission officials with the two detainees and that Islamabad had made no request to New Delhi for arrangements to be made for the repatriation of Awan and Khursheed.
Islamabad, the official said, had also made no effort to seek consular access to the two individuals after Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit was given a dossier bearing details of their alleged confession.
The development marks significance in terms of diplomatic warfare as New Delhi has served multiple diplomatic démarches seeking consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Iran-based Indian national arrested by Pakistan in March on charges of being a Research and Analysis Wing Agent- something Islamabad has not so far not granted.
Earlier this month, the Pakistani media had reported that Nawaz Sharif’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, had told its Senate that the government had not been provided with legally compelling evidence establishing Jadhav’s guilt. The reports were denied by the Foreign Ministry.
