Pathankot: India asks Pak to inform about JIT visit 5 days in advance

India has asked Pakistan to inform it at least five days in advance about the visit by its Joint Investigation Team (JIT) here in connection with the Pathankot terror attack, official sources said.

Pakistan has formed a five-member JIT to probe the Pathankot terror attack and it is expected to arrive in the country soon.

On Wednesday, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz had said the team may visit India in the next few days. Earlier, a six-member SIT was set up by the Pakistan government for conducting an initial probe into the January 2 attack based on the leads given by India.

India had said Masood Azhar, head of Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, masterminded the attack and sought action against him and other perpetrators.

Last month, Pakistan had lodged an FIR in the Pathankot attack case, which was seen by India as a “step forward” in bringing the perpetrators to justice. The FIR was filed against “unknown persons”, though India had named Masood Azhar as the mastermind of the strike. India had submitted evidence to show that the six perpetrators who attacked the airbase came from across the border.

Meanwhile, asked if there could be a meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz on the sidelines of SAARC foreign ministers meeting in Kathmandu in mid-March, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup said “as of now, I have no such information and there is no schedule so far.” 

Meanwhile, Pakistan has accused India of engaging in an “unhelpful” blame game over the Pathankot attack and said cooperation and understanding were needed to take the probe forward. Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said, “Pakistan believes that all nations need to cooperate with each other to defeat the menace of terrorism. Pakistan condemned the (Pathankot) incident. Prime Minister called to assure cooperation.”