Pathankot attack: Pak's probe team arrives in Delhi, will meet witnesses

New Delhi: A five-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) from Pakistan to probe the deadly terrorist attack on the Pathankot Air Force Base arrived in the national capital on Sunday. India is understood to be planning to provide the probe team access to witnesses, barring security personnel from the National Security Guard or the Border Security Force.

Sources said the five-member delegation led by Pak Punjab’s counter-terrorism department chief Addl IGP Muhammad Tahir Rai will be provided limited access to the Pathankot Air Force base. The airbase will be visually barricaded by the NIA to prevent any view of its critical areas, sources said.

On January 2, terrorists attacked the Pathankot Air Force Station, part of the Western Air Command of the Indian Air Force. Four terrorists were killed and two security personnel were martyred in the gunbattle.

Read: Pathankot attack: Ahead of Pak SIT's visit, NIA releases photos of terrorists

The team comprises of officials from both the military intelligence as well as civil administration. The team includes Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) AIG Rai Tahir as convener, Intelligence Bureau Lahore Deputy Director General Azim Arshad, Lt. Col Tanvir Ahmed of the ISI, Lt, Col Irfan Mirza of MI and Gujranwala CTD Investigating Officer Shahid Tanveer.

The team, which was granted visas on Friday, would visit the NIA headquarters on March 28 and Pathankot on March 29. At the NIA headquarters, the visit will include a 90-minute presentation on the investigations carried in the case so far, sources said. This will be the first time that Pakistani intelligence and police officials are travelling to India to investigate a terror attack.

Read: Pathankot probe: India receives visa applications of 5 Pak JIT members

Witnesses, except personnel of the NSG, BSF and Garud commandos of the IAF, have been lined up for the team. Witnesses include Punjab SP Salwinder Singh, his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma and cook Madan Gopal and 17 injured people. The three were kidnapped by the terrorists on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 before they entered the base.

The NIA is expected to share details about the four terrorists, which includes their native villages, people who had cooperated with them and facilitated their entry into India through Bamiyal village on the Indo-Pak border.

Read: Pak probe team on Pathankot attack to begin work in India from March 28

DNA samples were taken from the energy drink that they are believed to have consumed before carrying out the attack, they said. The Pakistani team will also be taken to the point where the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists had breached into India, sources said.

Read: Pathankot probe: Congress slams Centre for giving access to Pak JIT

Sources said the Pakistani side is also expected to be asked about some details that India had sought from them, including some phone numbers and details of companies who had supplied packed food to the terrorists.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj earlier said that Pakistan's joint investigation team would arrive in India on March 27 and start functioning from the very next day.

Read: India to allow Pak team to visit for Pathankot probe wherever necessary: govt

Home Minister Rajnath Singh earlier said that the modalities for conducting the Pathankot attack probe would be worked out once Pakistan's joint investigation team arrives in the country.

Read: Rajnath: Ready for Pak team probing Pathankot, will work out protocol