India accuses Pak agencies of ‘double-speak’

Pakistan media reports that the Pathankot terror attack was “stage-managed” by India are seen here as “double-speak” by Pakistan’s security establishment.

“The report in a Pakistan pro-government daily only shows that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Pakistan Army were doing double-speak. India has provided irrefutable evidence to the Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT) during their visit here regarding the involvement of Pak-based terrorists,” a government source said.

The news report in a daily, Pakistan Today, quoted an anonymous JIT member saying that the attack was nothing but a “vicious propaganda” against Pakistan as the Indian authorities did not have any evidence to back their claims.

“Within hours of the assault, all attackers were shot dead by the Indian security forces. However, the Indian authorities made it a three-day drama to get maximum attention from the world community in order to malign Pakistan,” the report added.

Rebutting the report, another government source said the evidence provided to JIT can stand international scrutiny and expressed surprise over media reports emerging that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had not provided enough evidence to the visiting team.

“The JIT was handed over whatever they asked for, which included certified copies of statements of witnesses, DNA reports of four terrorists, memos of articles seized from them,” the source said.

Pakistan had made a request under Section 188 of the Criminal procedure Code of Pakistan for collecting the evidence from the NIA.

The call data records of the two phones snatched from SP Salwinder Singh and his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma, which were used by the terrorists to call a number in Pakistan were also shared with the JIT, the source said. 

India also shared the conversation recorded between Nasir Hussain, one of the four terrorists who carried out the attack at the airbase, with his mother Khayyam Babber. The NIA has asked for a DNA sample from Nasir’s family. The NIA also handed over call recordings of terrorists holed up inside the airbase with their handlers, including Kashif Jaan, who is missing.