Pakistan JIT visit to Pathankot sparks protests

“First let me make clear one thing, that the Pakistan team which has come related to the probe, has a limited access to periphery. They will not enter the air base nor will they interact with the officials of the Army. They will investigate other things,” Shah said here. “I agree that for the first time Pakistan has made serious efforts towards investigation. 

The results will be known after the investigation gets over,” Shah said during a media interaction at Press Club.A five-member Pakistani Joint Investigation Team, including an ISI official, on Tuesday visited the IAF base at Pathankot in connection with the January 2 attack amid intensified protests by opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party. 

The five-member joint investigation team entered the air base from a specially made gate at the rear end of the compound and left after a few hours. AF Guard commandos and Punjab police have been stationed at the airbase. The National Investigation Agency, the Indian agency that is conducting investigations into the terrorist strike, has been directed to erect barricades in other areas of the base. 

The team was flown to Amristar and then taken to the airbase by road. Meanwhile, “district police has been informed about the visit and deployments have been done accordingly,” a senior police official said. 

A Congress functionary said that according an almost ‘red carpet welcome’ to the JIT raised serious questions on procedural propriety in relation to compromise on national security and likened it to an accused investigating himself. 

AAP said instead of allowing Pakistan’s investigation team to visit India to probe Pathankot attack, Indian security agencies should have been sent to Pakistan to investigate the role of masterminds ‘enjoying hospitality of Pakistan Government not only in Pathankot attack but in Mumbai attacks too.’