Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 27: The National Investigating Agency (NIA) will be seeking details of the investigations carried out by Pakistan in January 2 Pathankot terror attack as high level five member’s Joint Investigation Team (JIT) from Pakistan reached New Delhi today and will be visiting Pathankot on April 29.
This is for the first time during over two and half decades long Pakistan-backed militancy in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country that Pakistan will be joining investigations in a terror attack, which was executed by Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militants.
Asserting that Indian Government’s pressure on Pakistan has started showing results, official sources told the Excelsior that the NIA officials, who will accompany the Pakistani JIT to Pathankot on Tuesday have decided that the Pakistani officials would also be taken to the International Border (IB) in Bamial sector along Pathankot-Kathua border and show them the route taken by the militants for infiltration into India a couple of days before the attack in which seven security personnel and six militants were killed.
Ahead of the Pakistan team’s visit, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is reported to have curtained all vital assets at Pathankot airbase and left only the space of encounter between militants and security forces open for examination by the JIT to ensure that strategic locations and assets of the Air Force were not exposed before the Pakistani team, which comprised officials of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and Military Intelligence of Pakistan.
“All vital and strategic assets of the IAF including fighter jets were housed in safer areas. Entire area, where the assets have been lodged, has been further curtained from the area, where the Pakistani team will visit on Tuesday,” sources said, adding the step has been taken as preventive measure to ensure that the assets were not exposed before the Pakistani officials.
According to sources, the JIT would visit NIA Headquarters in New Delhi at 11 am tomorrow, where it would be given detailed briefing on the investigations into Pathankot terror attack, which were being investigated by the NIA.
Sources said the NIA would also seek details of the investigations carried out by Pakistan so far, which had duly registered FIR in the case and made some arrests. Though JeM supremo Moulana Masood Azhar, stated to be mastermind of the attack was detained briefly, he hasn’t been arrested.
The Pakistani JIT, according to sources, would be taken to Bamial sector along the International Border in Pathankot from where all six militants involved in the attack, were reported to have infiltrated into the Indian territory for carrying out the attack. The Pakistani belongings recovered from the slain militants and all other evidences pointing to Pakistan involvement in the case will be shown to the JIT, they added.
The JIT will also be taken to Civil Hospital in Pathankot, where bodies of four militants have been preserved. The bodies will be shown to the JIT for investigations and examination.
The JIT is headed by Chief of Punjab’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Muhammad Tahir Rai and comprised Lahore’s Deputy Director General Intelligence Bureau Mohammad Azim Arshad, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) official Lt Col Tanvir Ahmed, Military Intelligence official Lt Col Irfan Mirza and Gujaranwala CTD Investigating Officer Shahid Tanveer.
During 26/11 Mumbai attack case, Pakistan had sent a Judicial Commission to cross-examine some of the witnesses in the case.
The team would be going to the NIA headquarters tomorrow morning where they would be given a 90-minute presentation by NIA team about the probe conducted so far and evidences that show that the terror attack was planned from across the border in Pakistan, sources said.
In the post-lunch session, the Pakistani team would be raising their set of questions to the NIA investigators to clear doubts, if any, before they fly to Pathankot in a special plane on Tuesday morning, the sources said.
The NIA planned to provide the probe team from Pakistan access to all witnesses in the Pathankot terror attack case but not security personnel from National Security Guard or the BSF.
The sources said that cooperation to the Pakistani team would be based on the principle of reciprocity hoping that an Indian team would be allowed to travel to Pakistan at a later date.
Witnesses, excepting personnel of NSG, BSF and Garud commandos of IAF, have been lined up for the Pakistan probe team.
The witnesses include Punjab Police Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh, his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma and cook Madan Gopal and 17 injured people.
The three men were kidnapped by the terrorists on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 before they entered into IAF base.
NIA will also share details about the four terrorists which included their native villages, people who had cooperated with them and facilitated their entry into India through Bamiyal village on Indo-Pak border.
DNA samples were taken from the energy drink that they are believed to have consumed before carrying out the suicide attack, official sources had said.
Pakistani team will also be taken to the point where the Jaish terrorists had breached into India, they said.
While India has made it clear that it will cooperate in the probe provided Pakistan reciprocates in the same way, the sources said the Pakistani side would be asked about some details that India had sought from them.
This includes some phone numbers, persons involved which includes brother of Jaish chief Masood Azhar and companies who had supplied the packed food to the terrorists.
India can make a request to Pakistan for allowing an Indian probe team there for investigations at a later date, they had added.
India will also cite similarities between the Pathankot attack and those in Samba and Kathua last year like using same GPS and wireless sets, the modus operandi of hijacking cars, energy drink ‘Red bull’ (common in all attacks), identical wire cutters and arms and ammunition of Eastern Europe, Russian and Chinese make which available in the Af-Pak region.
The terrorists were engaged in an 80-hour gunbattle with the security forces at the IAF base from the intervening night of January 1 and 2. Seven security personnel were killed, while four bodies of terrorists belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed were recovered.
The bodies have been preserved.
Out of the four, two of them have been identified as Nasir and Salim. Nasir was the one who had called his mother Baber in Bhawalpur using the phone snatched from the jeweller friend of Punjab Police SP Salwinder Singh.
NIA has also given details, including the batch numbers, of food packets used by the terrorists after infiltrating into India on December 30. The terrorists had carefully buried the packets which had Pakistani markings and manufacturing dates of November-December 2015, the sources said.
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