 "Congress slams govt for giving access to Pakistani JIT")
The Congress Party on Sunday criticised the BJP-led NDA Government's move to permit Pakistan's joint investigation team (JIT) to visit the country to probe the deadly terrorist attack on the Pathankot Air Force Base and said this is an abject surrender of country's national interest.
Congress leader Manish Tewari told ANI it's unfortunate that the Government of India has decided to give access to the Pakistanis without the principle of reciprocity.
"Pakistanis never gave access to Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi or to the other 26/11 accused. On what basis of reciprocity access is being given?... So, therefore, there is an abject surrender of India's national interest," he added.
Tewari asked the government to give an explanation for this move and asked under what pressure the ruling dispensation was at this point of time.
Highlighting that the past meetings between the two arch-rivals gave no conclusive solution, Tewari said that nothing will come out of the meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif — who are likely to hold talks on the sidelines of Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on April.
"Nothing is going to come out of the meeting. Nothing came out of the earlier meetings, nothing came out in Ufa, nothing came out of the Lahore visit which god alone knows why the Prime Minister undertook and nothing is going to come out of Washington," he added.
The JIT team would visit Pathankot on March 29 through a helicopter.
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The Indian authorities are still working on modalities. As of now, it is said that they will not go by road and will only fly to Pathankot.
On January 2, terrorists attacked the Pathankot Air Force Station, part of the Western Air Command of the Indian Air Force.
Four terrorists were killed and two security personnel were martyred in the gun battle.