New Delhi/Bhopal: Asserting that the visit of the Pakistan Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to Pathankot is an unprecedented initiative in regard to India-Pakistan relationship, defence experts on Tuesday said it would be now crucial to see how the Pakistan probe team use this opportunity to advance the case in Pakistan.
“The Indian government and the defence ministry has clarified that there would be no access to any of the service personnel who are involved in the Pathankot incident, as also, no access to any part of the base that would redeem to be sensitive in terms of its own locations. I think we have to see how the JIT is going to use this opportunity to advance the case in Pakistan,” Security Expert Uday Bhaskar told ANI.
“Why Pathankot is a very anomalous experience is that, till now in India, many of the terrorist attacks, whether it was Mumbai in November 2008 or Pathankot in 2016, there has been strongly held view that the Pakistani establishment is supporting these groups or these individual perpetrators,” he added.
Bhaskar further stated that as far as the government is concerned, there seems to be an attempt to try and provide as much as of procedural access is possible, so that Pakistan in turn can prosecute the case.
Resonating similar sentiments, defence expert S.R. Sinho said the National Investigation Agency has provided all the necessary evidences to the Pakistan JIT, but there has been no comment on this from the intelligence team of Pakistan, which does not clear their stand.
“They have not commented anything on Maulana Masood Azhar till date. I think Pakistan might say that evidences are not sufficient and they require more proves on this. The Pakistan ISI has always carried out terrorist activities against India and it is their team which has come for investigation. The team also constitutes two lieutenant colonel. They have been sent so that they can find some loopholes and blame India,” he added.
Sinho termed the investigation as a ‘delay’, adding that the JIT is trying to show the international community that they are with India in probing the Pathankot attack.
“The Bombay blast matter is also pending. Both America and Headley gave statements and confirmed but still Pakistan has taken no action yet,” he said.
The chopper carrying the Pakistan probe team and the NIA landed at the Amritsar’s commercial airport earlier today and are en route to the Pathankot Air Base to probe the Pathankot terror attack.
The NIA yesterday gave a detailed presentation to the visiting Pakistani probe team on the evidence collected with regard to Pathankot airbase terror attack case.
Well placed NIA sources told ANI that the JIT held talks with the NIA members on the Pathankot attack investigation and NIA also gave presentation on facts and evidences.
As far as Jaish-e-Mohammed’s (JeM) involvement in Pathankot attack was concerned, the Pakistani JIT did not deny the evidence furnished by the NIA, sources said.
Seven security personnel were martyred in the attack. All terrorists involved in the attack were also killed in the gun-battle. (ANI)