NEW DELHI: India's findings about how the Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out the Pathankot air base attack hasn't been contradicted by the Joint Investigative Team from Pakistan.
The five-member team will be visiting the Pathankot airbase on Tuesday and retrace the route taken by the five terrorists who mounted an attack in January. The terror group, India says, infiltrated the country through Bamiyal in the Punjab-Pakistan border. Seven security personnel were martyred in the three-day operation to flush them out.
Top sources told NDTV that the National Investigation Agency or NIA's findings linking Jaish chief Maulana Masood Azhar and his brother Mohammed Rauf Asghar to the air base strike was presented to Pakistan in a briefing that lasted more than six hours. "Pakistan hasn't either objected or contradicted to the findings," a senior officer told NDTV.
Besides call records of the terrorists and their handlers like Qasim Jaan, Ashfaq Ahmed and Hafiz Abdul Shakur in Pakistan, the NIA has shared DNA samples of details of the terrorists killed, statements of witnesses and copies of First Information report with the Pakistani investigators.
India has also sought voice samples of Mohammed Rauf Asghar who, on a website, had claimed responsibility for the attack.
Top officials said India decided to give complete access of the investigation to the Pakistani team because an Indian team of investigators too will get similar access in Pakistan. "Much of the evidence lies in Pakistan and we will get similar access to the investigations, witness and key suspects in Pakistan," the officer said.
The NIA and the Pakistani investigators will have another round of meeting on Wednesday, when India will allow Pakistanis to examine witnesses like Punjab Police officer Salwinder Singh, his friend and his cook who were kidnapped by the terrorist en-route to the airbase.
India, however, is yet to get a Letter-Rogatory - a request from a court to share evidence to help investigations - from Pakistan. "So the validity of the evidence collected by Pakistan in India can challenged in a Pakistani court," a senior officer with the home ministry told NDTV.
India, however, has already sent a Letter-Rogatory to Pakistan. "Pakistan has responded to our request and has promised to share evidence collected by them in their country," he said.
