Daily Times

SRINAGAR: Two Pakistani students of class 10 were picked by the Indian Army for allegedly facilitating September’s ‘Uri Attack’ that left 19 of its soldiers dead.

The boys were living in a village of Azad Kashmir, located at an hour’s walk away from the Line of Control (LoC), strayed across the border, an Indian daily reported.

Ahsan Khursheed and Faisal Husain Awan were arrested on September 21 – three days after the Uri Attack – where militants attacked an Indian army base in occupied Kashmir. However, the Indian foreign ministry revealed that the two boys ‘confessed’ to facilitating the attack.

Faisal’s brother Ghullam Mustafa Tabassum – a doctor by profession – said that Faisal was at home on September 17, the date when Indian agencies claim militants attacked the base.

“I don’t want any controversy or recrimination,” Tabassum said, “which is why I hadn’t contacted the media. I am his older brother and I am supposed to protect him. I do not know what to do. I can only hope someone powerful in India reads our story and sends these boys home.”

The boys’ school Principal Basharat Husain said that both the boys were 16-year-olds and had just graduated from class 10. “I did not know the two were friends,” Husain said, “but it is not surprising, given that they were in the same school and from similar backgrounds.”

“She [Faisal’s mother] wakes up suddenly, crying and asking us to find out how he is,” Tabassum said, “It is very hard on her because Faisal, being the youngest in the family, is loved the most.”

The doctor said that Faisal chose not to go to school on September 20 as he overslept. Later, he went to Pir Kanth shrine nearby where he claims that the boys may have lost their way and ended up crossing the border.

Accidental crossing of the LoC is not unheard of and people on both sides of the border sometimes lose their way. The family filed a police complaint on September 22.