New Delhi: The Pakistan Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the deadly Pathankot terror attack has concluded that India had prior information about the attackers and that the incident was merely a ‘vicious propaganda’ by New Delhi against Islamabad as they lacked concrete evidence to support their claims.
According to a report in Pakistan Today, the JIT has finalised its report on its recent visit to India which also mentioned that the neighbouring side ‘did not have any evidence’ that the attack was plotted on the Pakistani soil. The JIT will submit its report on the attack to Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif in the next few days.
It further raised serious questions over the veracity of Indian claims regarding the Pathankot attack. The JIT, according to the report, said that the claim about the duration of the encounter between the Indian security officials and terrorists was complete false as the gunbattle ended within hours of the attack.
Indian authorities also failed to establish that the attackers entered from Pakistan, it said, adding that the Indian authorities made it ‘a three-day drama’ to get maximum attention from the world community in order to malign Pakistan.
The report also said that the Indian government did not cooperate with the JIT and instead made efforts to hinder the probe by the Pakistani team. According to Pakistan JIT, the total duration of their visit to the base was about 55 minutes and that the team was denied the opportunity to collect evidence from the incident site.
Stating that the no major damage was done to the frontier IAF base, the JIT said that they were only taken to the place from where the attackers had entered the air base and that they were informed that perimeter lights were not functional on the day of the attack.
It added that Indian authorities failed to share evidence with the JIT members about claims that terrorists had entered from the Pakistani side.
This finding has made it clear that the attack was a drama staged to malign Pakistan and persuade the world community that Pakistan is involved in terrorism, the report quoted sources privy to the JIT as saying.
The Pakistan Today report also mentioned about the killing of NIA officer investigating the Pathankot attack. “The brutal murder of a Muslim investigator is evidence that Indian establishment wants to keep the matter under wraps,” a member of the JIT was quoted as saying in the report.
