Pakistan agreed its JIT won't get access to military personnel

New Delhi: Pakistan had agreed ahead of its Joint Investigation Team's visit to India that it would not get access to any of the defence personnel involved in the counteroffensive against the perpetrators of the Pathankot Air Force Station attack.

"It was agreed much in advance of Pakistan's JIT's visit that they would not get access to any defence personnel involved in Pathankot operation," a Home Ministry official said.

According to the Terms of Reference for the recent visit of JIT, it was to interview key witnesses and victims of Pathankot terror attack but there was no mention of access to military or any other security personnel.

Pakistan had on Wednesday said India did not produce witnesses belonging to the security forces before the JIT. "The JIT visited the crime scene and also recorded the statements of some witnesses.

However, the witnesses belonging to the Indian security forces were not produced before it," said the Pakistan Foreign Office, in its first statement on the team's return from India.

The Terms of Reference for the visit say the JIT would collect, review and document physical evidence regarding the Pathankot incident, collect pieces of forensic evidence for possible matching with specimens of relevant individuals in Pakistan.

The team would collect, collate, analyse and document electronic/ digital evidence, visit crime scene and other relevant places related to Pathankot investigation, it says.

"The JIT would share with Indian counterparts details of investigation conducted by it upto the time of the visit, get briefing from National Investigation Agency of India about the investigation conducted by them besides performing any other task associated with the investigation," it said.

According to the methodology and timeframe of JIT, it would interview key witnesses and victims related to the investigation. "It will visit crime scene and other relevant places associated with the investigation and collect necessary physical, forensic, digital and other evidence available or in possession of the Indian authorities.

"The JIT will process evidence in the most professional manner and establish a chain of custody to ensure admissibility of evidence in the relevant court of law. The JIT intends to stay in India for about a week from the date of its arrival," it said.