Pak’s Pathankot FIR names ‘No one’

Pakistani authorities have lodged an FIR in connection with the terror attack on Pathankot in Punjab without naming JeM chief Masood Azhar whom India has accused of having masterminded the strike.

The FIR was filed against “unknown persons” after weeks of probe into the assault that had led to the postponement of Indo-Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks. It was registered at Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) centre in Gujranwala, Punjab province, on Thursday.

According to a CTD official, the FIR was needed to start police and judicial proceedings on the basis of evidence collected in connection with the attack for which India has blamed Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militant group.

India has identified Azhar as the mastermind of the attack. It has also blamed his brother Rauf and five others for carrying out the attack. The FIR has been lodged on the basis of information provided by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval that four attackers probably crossed from Pakistan into India and attacked the airbase on January 2. The FIR number 06/2016 was lodged under sections 302, 324 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code, and sections 7 and 21-I of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The FIR also mentions the telephone numbers contacted by the militants during the attack. The attack led to the postponement of a scheduled meeting between Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan and India in January in Islamabad. Since then, no date has been fixed for talks. The FIR has reportedly been registered on the recommendations of a six-member special team probing the attack.

Pakistan PM Sharif had formed the six-member investigation team headed by Addl IG of Punjab’s CTD Rai Tahir.