NEW DELHI: As uncertainty looms over the probe on the Pathankot air base attack that killed seven Indian soldiers in January, India on Tuesday alleged that the Pakistan government is linked to the attack.
India had previously blamed militants from Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) for the assault on the Pathankot air base in the northern state of Indian Punjab, which triggered two days of gunbattles.
But on Tuesday the Indian defence minister said the militants could not have carried out the attack without Islamabad’s support.
Related: Pathankot JIT to complete air base attack probe this week: Tariq Fatemi
“Pakistan’s non-state actors were definitely behind the attack. Also, no non-state actor from there (Pakistan) can function smoothly without the state’s support,” India’s Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told the parliament.
“The entire details of the attack will only come out in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigation,” he maintained.
Related: Jaish’s Masood Azhar under ‘protective custody’, confirms Punjab Law Minister
Foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz had earlier revealed that one of the mobile phone numbers linked to those who attacked the Pathankot airbase had been traced to the Jaish-e-Mohammed group’s headquarters in Bahawalpur.
Aziz called the lodging of the FIR in connection with the Pathankot assault a “logical and positive step” in bringing the perpetrators to justice.
JeM chief Masood Azhar has been named by India as the mastermind of the airbase attack and Mr Aziz confirmed media reports that he (Azhar) had been under “protective custody” since Jan 14.
He had said that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) from Pakistan may visit Pathankot in the first few days of March to probe the attack and that his country was pursuing the investigation seriously.
The attack on Pathankot air base came days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise visit to Pakistan in December.
The incident led to the postponement of peace talks planned between the two countries.
The foreign secretaries of the two countries had been scheduled to meet in January, however, no fresh date has been announced.
It was in fact other way around. The attack could not have been possible without active support from Indian security establishment. And it’s not the first time that slumdogs are trying to mislead and misguide the world community. After all, these very slumdogs being the world’s second largest suppliers of weapons to the terrorists of Islamic State is indicative of something. India, as a state, has for long been involved in using terrorism as a strategic tool to achieve its political and strategic goals. RAW-supplied SIMS were used in Bombay attacks too. Indian support for terrorists in Balochistan is not a secret. Neither is the painful and bloody LTTE saga in Sri Lanka from ancient history. And now not-really-surprising facts about Indian involvement in orchestrating massive killings in Karachi through terrorist Altaf of MQM are steadily slipping out despite collaborative efforts from the global evil alliance of RAW, MOSAD, and MI6. The fact is that slumdogs have been using terrorism since 1947 and they still moan and cry non-stop portraying themselves as a victim of terrorism. The time is not that far when these idiot slumdogs will have to pay for all the bloodshed that they have caused in Muslim world in general and Pakistan in particular.