Pakistan envoy Abdul Basit all but ruled out a return visit by Indian investigators days after its officials toured the Pathankot air base. (File photo of PM Modi with Nawaz Sharif)
Highlights
- Envoy suggests India team cannot travel to Pakistan for Pathankot inquiry
- Pak investigators were allowed to tour Pathankot Air Force Base last week
- India says Pak was clearly informed that "reciprocity" is expected.
India's investigators are unlikely to be allowed by Pakistan to collect evidence there in the case of the attack on the Pathankot air force base, suggested Pakistani envoy Abdul Basit today.
His remarks come just days after the government controversially allowed Pakistani officers - including one from the powerful military intelligence agency, the ISI - to tour the base where seven military personnel were killed in January in a terror attack by six Pakistanis.
"The visit of the Pakistani probe team to Pathankot is not about reciprocity," High Commissioner Basit said. The strong hint leaves Prime Minister Narendra Modi wide open to harsh criticism from political opponents like Arvind Kejriwal, who had strongly protested against the Pakistani visit.
The High Commissioner's statement today provoked a mordant told-you-so from Mr Kejriwal , the Delhi Chief Minister.
The government responded by stating that the understanding with Pakistan has been clear from the very start - that in return for Islamabad sending its officers here, India would get to do the same. The Foreign Ministry has also said that High Commissioner Basit's remark that the "peace process with India has been suspended" is at odds with the Pakistani government's stand. Both sides, the Foreign Ministry said, continue to work on the possibility of talks between their Foreign Secretaries.
After the Pathankot attack, Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif created a special team to assist India in its investigation and to examine the evidence submitted by Delhi to prove the terror strike was the work Masood Azhar, chief of the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.