Seven military personnel were killed and 20 others injured in the attack by six terrorists at the Pathankot air base.
Highlights
- Pakistani officers visited Pathankot air force base attacked in Jan
- Pak team met witnesses including cop whose car was used in terror attack
- In Pak, Indian team wants to build case against terrorist Masood Azhar
India will send a team of investigators soon to Pakistan to collect evidence that January's deadly attack on the Pathankot's air force base was the work of terror group Jaish e-Mohammed and its chief, Masood Azhar.
Pakistan, whose own representatives have just toured the Pathankot base, "welcomes the decision", said Sharad Kumar the head of the National Investigation Agency, adding that the dates have yet to be fixed.
Seven military personnel were killed after six Pakistanis terrorist crossed the border from Bamiyal into Punjab and reached the base in two cars, one seized from a taxi driver whose throat was slit, and another from a senior police officer.
In response to India's complaints, Pakistan has sealed various offices of the Jaish, but has not confirmed media reports ofAzhar being placed under house arrest. In fact, senior government sources in Islamabad have told NDTV that they are not sure where Azhar is - or even if he's in the country.
Nevertheless, the National Investigation Agency has asked for access to Azhar and voice samples for him and his top cohorts, said Home Ministry sources.
It was factors like this that motivated the government to allow the Pakistani team of five members, including one from its super-powerful military intelligence service, the ISI, to visit the base at Pathankot, said sources. Opposition parties like the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party or AAP excoriated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "an alliance with the ISI"; the intelligence agency has repeatedly been blamed by India for secretly facilitating some of its worst terror attacks.
But sources in Delhi say that by giving Pakistani officials direct access to much of the evidence - examination of 16 witnesses including Salwinder Singh, the policeman whose vehicle was car-jacked by the terrorists, for example - they have deprived Islamabad of the opportunity to claim that it was not given credible information that establishes the attack was carried out by its citizens.