New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) team is all set to file a closure report against two Pakistani schoolboys, who were detained in connection with Uri terror attack.
The aforementioned boys, Ahasan Kursheed and Faisal Hussain Awan, were detained by Indian army on September 21, 3 days after Uri attack and then handed over to NIA. "The closure report is likely to be filed next week," a source confirmed to CNN news18.
However, a source in the NIA also claimed that the boys had strayed into the Indian side on the Line of control (LoC), and will be handed over to Pakistan once the court formalities are over.
Tensions have been simmering between India and Pakistan along the LoC ever since the four heavily-armed fidayeen attacked an Indian post on September 18, 2016, leaving 19 soldiers dead and 20 injured.
Soon after the attack, the army claimed that the attack was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and that Ahasan and Faisal had confessed to being the members of the group. The army also said the teenagers had confessed that were guides for the 4 terrorists, who had carried out the attack.
The NIA investigation has now established that the attack was carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba and not JeM. On condition of anonymity, NIA officers, who are part of the investigation, said these boys are schoolgoers from the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) -- who could have crossed over inadvertently, and then confessed under duress.
NIA is likely to mention in its closure report that Uri attackers used GPS sets to reach the brigade headquarters and not a human guide as preliminary investigations had suggested.
In October 2016, NIA had claimed that Awan identified one of the four slain terrorists as Hafiz Ahmad, of Dharbang village, Murree in Pakistan. But investigators say that identity of only one terrorist has been conclusively established, based on funeral prayers of Lashkar.
Lashkar has claimed responsibility for Uri and held prayers for Gujranwala resident Muhammad Anas, code-named Abu Siraqa, who was killed in Uri attack.
If the closure report is accepted by the NIA court, India could send the two teenagers back to Pakistan as a reciprocation for the release of Indian soldier Chandu Chavan, who was recently released by Pakistan, after he crossed over inadvertently, post-surgical strike.
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