Pathankot air base attack: Pakistan dismisses Indian evidence

Pakistan’s media has claimed that the SIT probing Pathankot attack has not come across Jaish-e-Mohhamed (JeM) chief Moulana Masood Azhar’s role in the terror strike.

A Pakistan daily, The Express Tribune, reported on Monday that a Special Investigation Team set up after the deadly attack in India has conveyed to New Delhi that there was “no substantial evidence that could prove the involvement of Maulana Azhar in the Pathankot assault”.

The daily quotes its sources saying that the SIT informed the civil and military leadership in a last week meeting that the Indian evidence was insufficient to implicate Maulana Azhar.

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.

The investigating team has not ruled out the possibility that other members of Azhar’s group may have been involved, the officials said.

Six gunmen had attacked an Pathankot Air Force base on January 2, 2016 leading to a three-day-long stand-off in which seven soldiers were killed.

Subsequently, a crackdown was launched in Punjab against the JeM, its headquarters was sealed and dozens of activists detained.

Pakistan it seems leaves no opportunity unturned of backstabbing and betraying India whenever possible. India has maintained that the attackers, who were wearing Indian army fatigues, belonged to JeM.

In the aftermath of the terror attack on IAF airbase in Pathankot, India has increased pressure on Islamabad to expedite the investigations into the incident and punish the perpetrators responsible for it.

In New Delhi, the ministry of external affairs did not comment on the development.