Cong, AAP question govt move to allow Pak access to airbase
NEW DELHI: The Congress and the AAP on Monday questioned the NDA government’s move to give Pakistani officials access to the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot to probe the January terror attack, saying Pakistan has not provided any guarantee of action against the perpetrators.
By allowing the team to visit the airbase and probe the attack, the BJP government has, for the first time, distinguished and recognised that the Pakistani establishment does not have any role in perpetuating terror in India, said Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala. “The PM should introspect properly and answer the nation. Is there a guarantee that the team will not favour the terrorists,” the Congress leader asked.
The party questioned the “real intent” of the Pakistani team’s visit without a Letter Rogatory and guarantee of prosecution. This is the first time that India has allowed Pakistani investigators to probe a terror attack in the country blamed on Pakistan. “What is the guarantee that state actors, who are represented in the Pakistani team, will not frame the investigation in favour of the non-state actors and make our position untenable,” Surjewala asked.
He said Pakistan has not provided its team a Letter Rogatory as that would have made the evidence collected during investigation fit for judicial use and admissibility. “One is forced to wonder as to what is the inves- tigation all about, if it is not going to be of any use to nail the supposed non-state actors in Pakistani courts?” He also wondered why a representative of ISI, Pakistan’s spy agency, is part of the Pakistani team.
For his part, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal accused the PM of “surrendering” to Pakistan. “We were saying ISI was responsible, it was a Pakistan-sponsored terror. Has this position changed?” he asked.