Pakistan's Pathankot attack probe team will be allowed to question witnesses but not security personnel, sources have said.
Highlights
- Pakistani investigators will be allowed limited access to the attack site
- The team can question witnesses, but not personnel from the NSG or BSF
- It will also visit point of breach on Indo-Pak border in Pathankot sector
A joint investigation team from Pakistan including officials from Islamabad's intelligence agency Inter Services Intelligence or ISI, Military Intelligence and police arrived in India today to probe the January 2 terror attack at the air force base in Punjab's Pathankot.
Here are the 10 latest developments in this story:
The five-member team arrived in New Delhi this morning. It will be allowed to question witnesses but not security personnel, sources have said. This is the first time that Pakistani intelligence and police officials have come to India to investigate a terror attack.
Sources say the team - formed on instructions of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif - will be allowed limited access to the airbase where seven military personnel were killed while fighting terrorists.
India has blamed Jaish-e-Mohammed for the attack. The NIA says it has established the identities of the six Pakistani terrorists who were killed in the attack and also of those who regulated their actions from Pakistani soil.
On Monday, the NIA will share details of the terrorists with the Pakistani team. During their visit to Pathankot on Tuesday, they will be taken to the point of breach on the border from where the terrorists are believed to have entered India.
The area of attack has been barricaded to prevent any view of the technical or sensitive area where military assets are kept, sources added.
The Pakistani team will be allowed to meet key witnesses like the senior police officer who had said he was kidnapped by the terrorists who used his car to drive up to the air force base.
"The Pakistan team can question witnesses, but not personnel from the NSG (National Security Guard), Garud (Airforce commando unit) or BSF (Border Security Force)," sources said.
The Pakistani team includes Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department Additional Inspector-General Muhammad Tahir Rai, Intelligence Bureau's Deputy Director-General Lahore Muhammed Azim Arshad, Military Intelligence's Lieutenant-Colonel Irfan Mirza, Lieutenant-Colonel Tanvir Ahmad of Inter-Services Intelligence and Inspector Shahid Tanveer, a Punjab police officer based in Gujranwala, reported news agency PTI citing sources.
India is allowing access to Pakistani investigators for the first time hoping Islamabad will reciprocate the gesture, sources said. It is in the "spirit of goodwill and cooperation" that the access is being extended, they added. At a later date, India may ask Pakistan to permit a team of Indian investigators to visit Pakistan.
India will also ask Pakistan to share the details of the investigations so far in Pakistan. "Much of the evidence lies in Pakistan, till now we have no details, we hope Pakistan will also be sharing details of their investigations with us," top sources told NDTV.
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