New Delhi: The Home Ministry on Monday gave permission to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to prosecute Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar and three others in the Pathankot attack.
Azhar is accused of masterminding the January 2 attack on the Pathankot airbase in which seven security personnel were killed. He is also wanted for the more recent Uri attack.
Azhar is wanted by India in several terror related incidents, including the Parliament attack case and bomb blast at Srinagar Assembly in year 2001.
India has been trying to get the UN Sanctions Committee to ban the JeM chief and had submitted an exhaustive dossier in which listing out his terror activities since 1993 and categorically mentioned that he was one of the handlers of the Pathankot terrorists.
Azhar was released by India during the 2001 Kandahar hijack and is believed to be in the “protective custody” of security agencies in Pakistan.
PTI