New Delhi: In the backdrop of a deadly assault on an Indian Airbase last month, Pakistan's interior minister said on Tuesday that they may approach India to let its special investigation team to visit Punjab's Pathankot.
“Pakintan would approach India to allow special investigation team to visit Pathankot to gather relevant information on Pathankot attack,” Pak Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan.
The official further said, “Foreign Office will formally contact India to seek permission for the visit, as answers to many questions & links can be identified there,” ANI reported.
Khan also said that the investigation team has held many meetings and its work was proceeding.
Khan today made the remarks after Pakistan earlier offered to send an SIT to probe the Pathankot attack that left seven security personnel killed.
Indian security personnel also killed six militants in the January 2 attack on the airbase, which is merely 50 km from Pakistani border.
The development comes days after Pak officials said that they found no evidence implicating Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar whom India blamed for the attack.
The raid on the air base stalled efforts to revive bilateral talks between the nuclear-armed neighbours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unscheduled visit to his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, in December.
In January, Pakistani authorities detained Azhar and several members of Jaish-e-Mohammad, sealed offices belonging to the outfit, and shut down several religious schools run by the group.
The security officials said earlier that Azhar remained in custody, but did not say whether authorities were considering his release.
The investigating team has not ruled out the possibility that other members of Azhar’s group may have been involved, the officials said.
It also continued to look into groups affiliated with the United Jihad Council, an alliance of pro-Pakistan militant groups based in the Pakistani-administered part of the divided Kashmir region that claimed responsibility for the assault in Pathankot.
Jaish-e-Mohammad did not claim responsibility for the attack, but praised it in a statement released a few days afterward.
