India to receive Pakistani investigators in Pathankot attack

Islamabad, Feb 22 (IANS) India has agreed to receive Pakistani investigators for probing the involvement of any group or people from Pakistan in Punjab's Pathankot airbase attack, Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said.

Chaudhry Nisar on Sunday said the only condition India made was that it should be informed at least five days before the visit of the Pakistani investigators, Dawn online reported.

He provided the information in reply to a question about the registration of an FIR in Pakistan against the Pathankot airbase attackers, believed to be from Pakistan.

"Our SIT (Special Investigation Team) will visit India in the next few days. India has already been informed through a letter by the Foreign Affairs Ministry. India has agreed to it," he said.

Chaudhry Nisar did not say if India also agreed to allow the investigators to visit the Pathankot airbase as there were reports that New Delhi would not allow them to enter the base area.

He was of the opinion that the registration of the FIR was necessary to fulfil certain legal requirements to hold investigations and verification of the information shared by India with Pakistan.

The FIR was also necessary to acquire data from service providers of those telephone numbers through which the attackers had talked to someone in Pakistan from inside the Pathankot airbase.

"These (phone) numbers have been made part of the FIR," he said, adding that "further investigations will be held on the basis of this FIR."

The minister recalled that an FIR was also lodged in Pakistan following the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

He said some arrests were made in connection with Pathankot attack but investigations were still on to establish their links with the telephone numbers or with those people whose names were provided by India.

He refused to give details about those arrested, saying it was a "sensitive matter".