PTI
NOIDA, JANUARY 12
India has no reason to distrust Pakistan’s assurance that it will take effective action on inputs given about the perpetrators of the Pathankot terror attack, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today.
“Pakistan government has said it will take effective action. I think we should wait,” Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
Singh said since Pakistan has given the assurance to the Indian government, there should be no reason to disbelieve them so early.
“There is no reason to distrust (avishvaas) them (Pakistan) so early,” he said.
After the attack, India had said it has provided to Pakistan actionable intelligence to act upon the perpetrators of the terrorist act.
During a post-attack telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, the government had said that “our Prime Minister very strongly urged the Prime Minister of Pakistan to take action.
“Actionable intelligence in regard to the terrorist attack and the links with the perpetrators in Pakistan were provided to the Pakistani side. The Pakistan Prime Minister promised us prompt and decisive action. We now wait that prompt and decisive action,” it had said.
Reports from Pakistan yesterday said law enforcement agencies have picked up “some suspects” connected to Pathankot airbase attack from Bahwalapur district, the hometown of Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed.
India has identified Masood Azhar as mastermind of the attack. It also blamed his brother Rauf and five others for carrying out the attack that left all six terrorists and seven Indian soldiers dead on January 2.
It has provided telephone number in Pakistan contacted by the airbase attackers and given other inputs.
India has called on Islamabad to act on the information if the Foreign Secretary-level talks are to take place as scheduled on 15 January.
For a mere Rs 50, one could enter airbase illegally, reveals NIA probe
A probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the Pathankot Air Force base terror attack has revealed glaring lapses.
As per CNN-IBN news channel, the NIA probe has established that insider help – willingly or unwillingly – was provided to terrorists who attacked the airbase early on January 2 this year.
The investigation so far has found that illegal entry was being allowed into the Pathankot airbase for a meagre sum of Rs 50.
As per sources, locals were allowed to bring cattle inside the airbase for grazing by paying Rs 50.
The NIA is now going through call details to find out who provided inside help to the terrorists.
Mobile tower records in the area are also being probed.
Reports earlier had also hinted that an insider could have aided the terrorists in infiltrating into the airbase.
Reports claimed that arms and ammunitions used by the attackers were smuggled much before the encounter began at 3.30 am on January 2.
For the group of militants, which carried out the attack on Pathankot Air Force base, it would not have been possible to cross the international border, hijack vehicles, jump a 10-feet high boundary wall around the airbase while carrying all arms and ammunition.
The point that the attackers were heavily armed can be made out from the fact that it took almost three days for the security forces to sanitise the area even after the attackers were gunned down in just a few hours.
Also, another fact has caught the attention of the probe agencies - three floodlights were found turned upward on the night of the attack.
Investigators had earlier detained an employee of the Army’s Military and Engineering Services (MES) in connection with the development.
The terrorists are believed to have entered the airbase by climbing an 11-foot-high wall.
Investigations revealed that when that breach happened, floodlights deployed in that area of the airbase were not functioning. As per the daily, three of the powerful lights were found “turned upward” and directed away from the stretch of the wall, thereby making the area a zone of darkness.
Sources said except these three, all other floodlights in the area were in their original position.
Also, the ‘Y’ iron angles on the wall that hold the razor wire in place were also found to have been tampered along the stretch and the wire was cut through.
