India fails to prove Pathankot attackers entered from Pakistan

Assailants were killed within hours of attack but New Delhi prolonged
drama for four days; Pak JIT visits airbase for only 55 minutes

ISLAMABAD: The Pathankot Airbase attack was, in actual fact, and encounter lasting a few hours, but the Indian authorities made it a three-four day show to get maximum world attention and use it against Pakistan, it is learnt. Moreover, India also failed to establish that the attackers entered from Pakistan. 

Although the Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which visited India, had not hinted at anything on this particular issue, informed sources said that within hours of the assault, all the attackers were shot dead by the Indian security forces. However, the Indian authorities made it a three-day drama to get maximum world attention in order to malign Pakistan.

The sources said that the attackers of the Pathankot Airbase were restricted and killed without letting them get deep into the base. “They were killed within a few hours as soon as they entered the base,” a source said, adding that no major damage was done to the base.

However, the Indian authorities staged a drama of a prolonged gun battle. On January 2, it was claimed that the gun battle and the subsequent combing operation lasted for about 17 hours. On January 3, it was said, fresh gunshots were heard and another security officer was killed by an IED explosion. Then the ‘operation’ continued on January 4. The Indian authorities’ initial claim about the number of attackers killed also varied.

Following India’s pointing its finger at Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), Pakistan offered full cooperation. Not only were several arrests made here but a formal FIR was also lodged.

Later, Pakistan sent its Joint Investigation Team to India to probe the Pathankot Airbase attack. the Pakistani team reached India on March 27 and returned home on April 1. The team inspected the attack site as well as interviewed different security officials.

However, the Pakistani JIT was not given enough space to probe the matter. Official sources said that the Indian authorities indicated the place from where the assailants entered the base, and it was told that perimeter lights were also not functioning on the day of the incident.

The Pakistani team was taken from the side narrow passage to Pathankot Airbase instead of the main entry gate, these sources said, adding that the total duration of the JIT visit to the base was of only 55 minutes which seems merely a walk through without any meaningful evidence collection.

The Indian media claimed that the attackers entered from Pakistan but no evidence was shared with the JIT, the sources said. They added that the Indians only shared the negligence of the BSF and Indian Army.

What makes things really suspicious for India, was the claim by the Indian authorities that the attackers had crossed the border, but BSF jawans were sleeping. Additionally, it was said that the electric fence on the border was out of order that night.

To make things further doubtful, the attackers were said to have crossed the airbase walls with a single rope without a hook. Interestingly, the airbase perimeter lamps were also off despite a 28-hour early warning of an attack.

While the Indian allegations about the involvement of Pakistan’s non-state actors in the Pathankot Airbase attack are yet to be established, what appears from the Indian side is a case of a badly knitted stage drama.