According to sources, the JIT report said that India used the attack as a tool to expand its propaganda against Pakistan without having any solid evidence to back the claim.
The JIT’s report says that the Indian government did not cooperate with the JIT and instead made efforts to hinder the probe by the Pakistani team.
“The JIT report raises questions over the veracity of Indian claims regarding the Pathankot attack. Contrary to the claims of the Indian government about the duration of the encounter, the standoff between the Indian army and alleged terrorists ended within hours of the attack,” a source privy to the report said. This finding has made it clear that the attack was a drama staged to malign Pakistan and persuade the world community that Pakistan is involved in terrorism, the source said.
Indian authorities failed to establish that the airbase attackers entered from Pakistan, the report says adding that within hours of the assault, all the attackers were shot dead by the Indian security forces. “The Indian authorities made it a three-day drama to get maximum international attention in order to malign Pakistan, the contents of report said.
According to report, Pakistani team was allowed entry into the Pathankot base from a narrow passage out of a breach developed into the airbase instead of the main entry gate.
The JIT’s visit to the base was about 55 minutes and the team was denied opportunity to gather evidence from the spot of the attack.
No major damage was done to the base and that the Indian authorities showed the team the place from where the assailants had entered the base, sourced said. The investigators were informed that perimeter lights were also not functional on the day of the attack.
These points raise serious questions over the attack as India had prior information about the attackers and the entire area had been sealed three days ahead of the attack, the source quoted the report.
No evidence was shared with the JIT about Indian claims that terrorists had entered from the Pakistani side of the border. The Indian claims about the entry from the Pakistani side were unsupported as they failed to answer why the electric fence on the border failed to hinder the entry, the source further said.
Indian officials in response claimed that the breach was possible as power was not running through the electric fence due to some electricity problem on the night of the attack,” the source added.
The report also indicates another flaw in the Indian investigation, as the attackers could not have scaled the airbase walls with a single rope without a hook.
“Another flaw in Indian claim is that the airbase perimeter lamps were turned off despite a 28-hour early warning of an attack,” the source added.
The report says that the Indian allegations about the involvement of Pakistan’s non-state actors in the Pathankot Airbase attack have not been established.
“The report concludes that the Pathankot attack looked like another false flag operation fully facilitated by the Indian army just to put the blame on Pakistan,” the source said.
Earlier media reports had indicated the reluctance of the Indian officials to cooperate with the JIT. The Indian authorities did not provide the JIT any evidence when asked for the recordings of the telephone calls of SP Salwinder Singh, his wife and other related persons.
