Pakistan’s Pathankot probe panel arrives in India

New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) A team of five Pakistani police and intelligence officials arrived here on Sunday to probe the January 2 terror attack at the Pathankot air base in Punjab, sources here said.

The team will travel to Pathankot on Tuesday and will question witnesses, according to the sources. They said that the Pakistani team will be given a limited access to the Indian airbase where at least seven military personnel were killed after a gun and bomb attack by alleged Pakistani terrorists.

One civilian was also killed in the attack on the sprawling 2,000-acre complex that houses high-value Indian defence assets, including fighter jets. Six terrorists who had crossed over into Punjab from Pakistan were also killed.

This is for the first time New Delhi has allowed Pakistani investigators to probe a terror attack in India blamed on that country. The access was granted as India hoped that Pakistan will bring to justice the alleged perpetrators, including Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar.

Indian investigators believe that Azhar, who was released after the Indian Airlines' IC 814 hijacking in 1999 in Afghanistan's Kandhahar, masterminded the Pathankot attack.