advertisement
Pakistan High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, created a stir when he said “the whole investigation is not about the question of reciprocity.” It raised questions on Pakistan’s intent to cooperate in the Pathankot terror attack investigation. Will the probe reach a dead-end if the NIA is not given access to witnesses in Pakistan?
According to sources in the security forces, it is essential that investigators get access to witnesses in Pakistan – family members of the slain terrorists, JeM chief Masood Azhar and other JeM handlers – to connect the missing links.
Souces also say the Pakistan Joint Investigation Team (JIT) wasn’t expecting full cooperation from India. By allowing the JIT to visit the Pathankot Air Base, India showed that it was serious about bringing the probe to a logical conclusion.
The NIA provided all relevant evidence to the Pakistan JIT. They were also allowed to question all witnesses except for those in the security forces.
On Thursday, the Pakistan High Commissioner, Basit, ruled out the possibility of allowing the NIA to visit Pakistan. The MEA, in a strongly-worded response, said,
Hours after Basit’s statement that India and Pakistan peace talks are suspended, the Pakistan foreign office spokesman Mohammed Nafees Zakaria said that the foreign secretaries of both the countries were in touch and modalities will be worked out. This clearly exposed the internal tussle in Pakistan between the government and the Pakistan Army. Now all eyes are on how PM Nawaz Sharif handles the in-fighting in Pakistan.
If or not Pakistan cooperates agreaably with India will determine the fate of the Pathankot investigation. A question that needs to be raised time again – will it suffer a similar fate as the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack investigations, or will Pakistan truly assist India in punishing the perpetrators?
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)