Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said that registration of a First Information Report (FIR) in the Pathankot attack by Pakistan is not enough, as he called for a serious investigation and legal action to India’s satisfaction.
“Registration of a case is merely a step ahead, but it won’t do. There should be serious investigation. Our effort is that they should take legal action to our satisfaction,” Parrikar said in an interview aired on an Indian news channel.
Punjab Police’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on Friday registered a FIR against the alleged attackers of the Pathankot airbase in India and their abettors, kicking off a formal investigation into the attack which had claimed the lives of at least seven Indian troops and four militants in January this year.
Following the attack India had accused militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad of being responsible for the attack. Pakistani authorities cracked down on the group, sealing a Jaish-run seminary in Sialkot and taking group leader Masood Azhar into protective custody.
The Pathankot air base attack occurred just days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a ‘surprise’ visit to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his birthday and the occasion of his granddaughter’s wedding ─ a move that appeared to promise better relations between the neighbouring countries in the coming year.
Later Pakistan said it is “considering to send a special investigation team to Pathankot, in consultation with the government of India.”
Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Sunday that India has agreed to receive Pakistani investigators for probing its allegations about the involvement of some groups or people from Pakistan in
Talking about the mutual demilitarisation of Siachen glacier, Parrikar said no such question arises, noting that India occupies the higher peaks.
Parrikar, who was banned from speaking to the media for six months for issuing controversial statements last year, reasserted that “India will hit back at terror groups in their own language.” adding that “those who inflicted pain on India will have to pay,” he said.
“When, what and how it will be done will depend on our convenience,” he said.