Uri attack: Terror guides are teenagers from PoK

Faisal Hussain Awan and Ahsan Khursheed will soon go home and perhaps even to school, which they apparently were so desperate to avoid that they crossed over to India from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Six months after an attack on an army base in J-K's Uri sector that left 19 personnel dead, Indian authorities have found that the two suspected "terror guides" are schoolboys from Muzaffarabad.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is set to file its closure report on Wednesday even as two desperate families await the release of the youngsters. Relatives say Faisal and Ahsan "inadvertently strayed into the Indian side of Line of Control".

TO BE DEPORTED AFTER CLOSURE REPORT

The class 10 students of Shaheen Model School will miss their board exams in March as they cool their heels in a Jammu jail. But sources in the home ministry told Mail Today that this is temporary. After the closure report, the boys will be deported.

"We are four brothers and six sisters," Faisal's brother Ghulam Mustafa said. "Faisal is the youngest, only 15 years old- a simpleton whose hobby is to hang out in parks." Mustafa says the family cannot forget the day Faisal did not return home. They searched for him everywhere. The family finally lodged a missing report, only to discover from media accounts that the boys had strayed into Indian territory.

"Despite reports reaching that he would be handed over to the Pak's custody soon, mother is inconsolable," he said. "She will only get relief when she sees and hugs her son." Ahsan has two brothers and two sisters and is the youngest of the siblings.

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