Pakistan unlikely to assist Delhi in base attack probe

India told Pakistani envoy it is ready to provide evidence if ‘Islamabad wishes to investigate’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is unlikely to accept India’s offer seeking its cooperation to investigate the Uri attack because of Modi government’s ‘malicious campaign’ to defame Islamabad by prematurely blaming it for the latest incident, officials familiar with the development said on Thursday.

India on Wednesday summoned Pakistan’s High Commissioner Abdul Basit and informed him that it was ready to provide details including fingerprints and DNA samples of militants killed in Uri attack if Islamabad ‘wishes to investigate’ the attack.



However, a senior foreign ministry official said this was not a ‘proper way’ on part of India to seek Pakistan’s cooperation.

“On one hand you [India] are declaring Pakistan a terrorist state, while on the other hand, you are expecting us [Pakistan] to cooperate with you,” said the official, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the issue. The official also made it clear that the issue of cooperation would anyway arise only if Indian authorities first themselves reached at any conclusion regarding who was behind the Uri attack.

Although, Indian media was quick to blame Pakistan for the attack, fresh details emerged that Indian authorities have so far failed to come up with ‘conclusive’ evidence in this regard. A story appeared in some Indian media outlets contradicted the earlier claims by the Indian military that weapons used by attackers had Pakistan ‘markings.’



The embarrassing situation led the Indian defence ministry to issue an advisory to the media saying that no story related to Uri attack should be published or aired without pre-verification from the concerned defence authorities.

At his weekly news briefing on Thursday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said Indian authorities blamed Pakistan for the incident without even investigating the matter. “It is either a strategy or a matter of habit on their part to blame Pakistan for any incident in India, especially in IOK (Indian –occupied Kashmir),” Zakaria said rejecting outright the Indian allegations that Pakistan had any role in the Uri incident.

When asked whether Pakistan would extend cooperation to India regarding investigations into the attack, the spokesperson said it was speculative. He said in the past Pakistan extended full cooperation to India on Mumbai attacks investigations despite the fact that it was India, which was lacking in terms of responding to Pakistan’s requirements.



“In case of Pathankot attack we also sent our team over there. Thus, we have extended cooperation in the two instances. Regarding the currently reported incident, your question is speculative,” the spokesperson pointed out.

The statement suggests that Pakistan this time will not commit to anything and that was the reason Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his address to the UN General Assembly did not make any reference to Uri attack.

Replying to a question about the ongoing exercises by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), the spokesperson played down the hype. “Let me tell you that these are routine exercises,” Zakaria said.

He, however, pointed fingers at India for creating hype and jingoism.  “We have seen all those inflammatory and irresponsible statements emanating from India coupled with hype created by Indian media,” he noted. “Pakistan is a peace loving country, and we pursue our Prime Minister’s vision of peaceful neighborhood. Having said that, let me be clear that our armed forces and the entire nation of Pakistan remain ready to defend our country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity at all costs,” the spokesperson cautioned.

On Indian government’s move to grant political asylum to Brahamdagh Bugti, the spokesperson said this further vindicated Pakistan’s stance that India was involved in creating unrest in Balochistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2016.