Pak rejects India’s charge, says JeM chief did not plot Pathankot attack

The investigation team formed by Nawaz Sharif said that evidence provided by India failed to implicate Masood Azhar.

Lahore

: The team constituted by Pakistan to probe the attack on Pathankot airbase in India, has concluded that there is no evidence to prove Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar's role in the assault.

According to a report in The Express Tribune, Pakistani authorities have informed India that the evidence provided in the case fails to prove any link between the terror outfit and the Pathankot attack.

The team reportedly informed Pakistani government and military that evidence fails to implicate Azhar, however, it did not rule out the possible role of lower cadre in the JeM in the deadly attack.

India said Masood Azhar was the mastermind of the attack and alleged that his brother Rauf and five others were also involved in the attack which left all six terrorists and seven Indian soldiers dead.

Sharif had formed the six-member investigation team headed by Additional Inspector General of Punjab's Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Rai Tahir in the second week of January to look into India's allegations that the JeM was behind last month's attack.

India had given "specific and actionable information" to Pakistan soon after the Pathankot attack reportedly carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists on the intervening night of January 1 and 2.

But the team had written a letter to India, asking for more leads, claiming that they failed to make any headway in the probe and could not nail Azhar’s role.