Investigators from India, Pakistan meet over Pathankot probe

mangaloretoday.com/ PTI

New Delhi, Mar 28, 2016, (PTI): Members of the Pakistan’s Joint Investigation Team formed to probe into the Pathankot airbase attack, in a meeting with the officials at the National Investigation Agency (NIA) headquarters in New Delhi on Monday.

Investigators from India and Pakistan met here today over the probe into Pathankot terror attack even as Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the visiting team has been refused permission to enter the IAF base there tomorrow amid a political slugfest.

The visit of Pakistan’s five-member Joint Investigative Team(JIT) that includes an ISI official marked the first such trip from the neighbouring country to probe a terror case in India.

A day after their arrival, the JIT members reached the National Investigation Agency (NIA) headquarters here after which they were briefed about the probe carried out so far.

 

The meeting between the two sides took place in a cordial manner and the Pakistani side was "cooperative" during the day-long deliberations, NIA Director General Sharad Kumar said.

The JIT, which is headed by Chief of Punjab’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Muhammad Tahir Rai, raised several questions about the probe which were answered by the NIA team which has been probing the case regarding the 80-hour long gun battle at the IAF base between Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) terrorists and security forces.

The visit of Pakistani probe team has triggered a political slugfest with opposition Congress criticising the Government for exposing its defence assets to Pakistan.

However, Parrikar sought to downplay the issue and said the "crime scene" at the Pathankot airbase was with the NIA.