Pathankot Terror Attack: NIA releases photos of four terrorists ahead of Pakistan SIT’s visit

The National Investigation Agency has released photos of 4 suspects in the Pathankot terror attack. This release has come at the time when Pakistan’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) will visit the country for the same purpose.

That’s why; the NIA hopes to get some information from Pakistani authorities on the four men who are suspected to be the members of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad, accused by India of attacking the Indian Air Force base on January 2 this year.

This step has been taken by the NIA, a week before Pakistan’s Special Investigation Team reaches Pathankot to investigate the January attack. The NIA has released pictures of four terrorists who were killed at the Pathankot air base in Punjab.

In this terror attack, 7 security personnel and all 7 attackers were killed in the three-day siege.

The announcement was made after External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj met Sartaj Aziz, foreign affairs advisor to the Pakistan prime minister, on the event of 37^th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)’s Ministerial Meeting held in Nepal’s Pokhara.

However, both India and Pakistan have agreed to conduct a joint probe into the terror attack at the air base. The Pakistani probe team may arrive in India on March 27 and the investigation will begin the next day, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said last week.

Both the nations had earlier agreed to conduct a joint investigation but the date was not decided for starting the probe.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh told on  Friday that the government was “prepared” for the upcoming visit of the Pakistani SIT to investigate the Pathankot terror attack but the modalities were yet to be worked upon.

Talking to reporters about the sidelines of a function here, Singh encloses a direct reply on whether the visiting Joint Investigation Team would be given access to the strategic India Air Force (IAF) base, saying: “We are prepared.”

 According to the sources, the strategical framework has been laid out to work with the Pakistani SIT. The Defence Ministry, which earlier had exceptions to the Pakistani team visiting an air base has allegedly come on board and has allowed limited access.