India received another shocker from across the border as Pakistan media reported that the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) “was actually now convinced that the encounter had been stage-managed by Indian authorities” and that NIA official Tanzil Ahmed’s death was linked to the case.
Pakistan Today quoted a member of JIT, which had last week visited the Pathankot airbase, to say that the attack was nothing but “vicious propaganda” against Pakistan as Indian authorities did not have any evidence to back their claims. The report said that the JIT will submit its report on the attack to Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif in the next few days. The report also had the anonymous JIT official talking about the murder of NIA officer Tanzil Ahmed. “The brutal murder of a Muslim investigator is evidence that the Indian establishment wants to keep the matter under wraps,” said the JIT official in the report.”
The JIT said New Delhi failed to provide evidence to prove their allegation that Pakistan-based militants stormed the Pathankot Air Force base, sources close to the team said.
Pakistan’s Geo News also reported, quoting sources, that the JIT was allowed to enter the military airbase from the narrow adjacent route instead of the main entrance and that the duration of their visit was just 55 minutes. The report said this was enough to take a mere walk through the airbase and that the JIT could not collect any evidence in this limited time.
However, the team was informed about the negligence of the Border Security Force (BSF), sources added.
It was said that at the time of the attack, BSF personnel were sleeping even though there had been an alert about a possible attack 48 hours earlier, sources said.
(With inputs from IANS.)
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