Two Pakistani teenagers, arrested for their alleged involvement in the terror attack at an Army camp in Uri last year, were released by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday as the terror charges against them could not be corroborated.
Three days after the Uri attack on September 18, where 18 soldiers were killed, the Army claimed to have caught two teenagers — Faisal Hussain Awan and Ahsan Khursheed — for allegedly guiding the terrorists to the 12 Infantry Brigade headquarters. The Army had said that the two were working for the Pakistan-based outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).
The duo was first caught by a patrol team of the Border Security Force from a village near Uri. Khursheed belongs to Khaliana Kalan and Awan is from Pottha Jahangir, both villages are in PoK. The case was transferred to the NIA.
On January 19, the NIA said it was Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and not the JeM, which carried out the terror attack at the Army camp. The Hindu reported on January 27 that no evidence had been found against the two.
‘Pressure of studies’
An NIA spokesperson said the two had been handed over to the Army’s 16 Corps headquarters in Jammu and would be sent back home.
The spokesperson added that the NIA’s probe “revealed that the two suspects had crossed over to the Indian side after altercation with their parents due to pressure of studies.”
