India should share information about the captured Udhampur terrorist, Pakistan government sources told The Hindu . “If a terrorist has been arrested by the Indian authorities, who as per media reports is claiming to be a Pakistani, the onus is on India to share details with us after interrogating him,” said Islamabad sources.
Officials said they had not been contacted by the Indian government on the attack, but had followed the capture of Mohammad Naved, the suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative on TV channels.
They said India was yet to share details of the attackers involved in the Gurdaspur incident last week. “India is also shying away from disclosing the identities of the Gurdaspur attack perpetrators,” one source told The Hindu .
Spotlight on talks
The Udhampur attack has put the spotlight once again on whether it would impact talks between National Security Advisers Sartaj Aziz and Ajit Doval that had been agreed to during the Prime Minister’s summit at Ufa.
India had proposed August 23-24 for the talks to be held in Delhi to discuss “all issues related to terrorism”. However, Pakistan is yet to confirm the dates. “We are watching the events very closely, and are yet to decide if that is the best time to meet,” one official said.
For India too, the attacks now pose a dilemma. On the one hand, with clear evidence that both the Gurdaspur attackers and the Udhampur terrorists originated from Pakistan, the government will have substantive proof to hand over, including GPS data, “Made in Pakistan” glove labels, as well as the testimony of the terrorist caught after the ambush. With this, Mr. Aziz can expect a firm demand from India to take action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which India believes is behind the attacks.
On the other hand, say officials, any tough words against Pakistan at this stage could derail the “Ufa process” and, as a result, the gains the government believes it made during the PM’s talks, especially with regard to the absence of J&K mention, could be lost.
For the moment, the government has steered clear of blaming the Pakistan government for the attacks, or pointing to any direct link of the Udhampur and Gurdaspur attacks to Islamabad. Prime Minister Modi has also chosen to make no statement or tweet on the attacks.
