The Pakistan Joint Investigation Team (JIT) reached National Investigation Agency (NIA) to record statements of eyewitnesses for the Pathankot Attack.
Key witnesses SP Gurdaspur, his cook, and jeweler friend Rajesh Warma have also reached the NIA headquarters to record their statements, Indian media reported. The trio had allegedly been abducted by terrorists and their vehicle was hijacked to reach the airbase.
India said that the visiting JIT of Pakistan had been provided documents and evidence regarding the Pathankot Airbase attack, NDTV reported on Wednesday. The Indian authorities said that their probe team would also visit Pakistan soon.
According to reports, Pakistan had detained some suspects in the case, the NIA said after a meeting with the five-member Pakistani team that had come to investigate the case and visited the airbase.
“The Pakistani team had shared details of their investigations,” NIA chief Sharad Kumar said, but he added that details of the detentions could not be shared at this stage, since the information had operational value.
ALSO READ: Pathankot attack probe: Pakistan JIT meets NIA officials in Delhi
India expected full cooperation from Pakistan, having allowed the team access to all evidence and the attack site in Pathankot. And it was Pakistan’s turn to share information regarding its investigation.
“Our discussion with Pakistan was on the basis of reciprocity. The process of handing over evidence to Pakistan started today,” said Sanjeev Singh, a senior official of the agency. The evidence India has shared includes phone call intercepts and statements of the witnesses. The Pakistani team, which includes a member of its Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI, has also been allowed access to airbase — retracing the steps of the terrorists and visiting the area where the 80-hour gun battle with them had taken place.
Pakistan has not contradicted the evidence India presented earlier this week regarding the way the terrorists had infiltrated into India and the group they belonged to. The sources in Pakistan have told NDTV that it is not known if 47-year-old Azhar — the mastermind of January’s terror attack at the air base — is still in Pakistan. Pakistani officials had earlier said that he had skipped the country.
