Pathankot JIT applies for visas

A five-member Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on Tuesday applied for visas to come to India to carry forward the probe into the Pathankot terror attack, a week after the announcement by the foreign ministers of the two countries that it will come here on March 27. In the wake of TV reports that claimed the five JIT members had been granted visas swiftly soon after the applications reached the Indian high commission in Islamabad, the government sources said it was “under process”. In other important developments, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said a “senior minister” in the Union government would represent India at the Pakistan National Day celebrations, to be held at the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi on Wednesday, even as the ministry ruled out the presence of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj at the event. Meanwhile, Pakistan has also decided to “opt out” of the ambitious proposed SAARC satellite project, on the grounds that it has its own space programme.

Amid indications that the Pakistani JIT may be allowed access to those parts of the IAF Pathankot air-based where there are no strategic assets like aircraft stationed, New Delhi said the itinerary of the team would now be chalked out since the JIT composition was now known. However, when asked by reporters on how many of the JIT members were officers of the Pakistani armed forces, the MEA spokesperson refused to comment.

The JIT will enter India from the Attari-Wagah border in Punjab and will land at New Delhi on March 27, following which the team will proceed to Pathankot the next day.