Issuing a stern warning, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said if Pakistan doesn't allow the National investigation Agency (NIA) to visit the neighbouring nation to probe the Pathankot air base attack then it would be a 'betrayal' to India.
"When the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of Pakistan proposed to visit India for investigating the Pathankot attack, it was mutually agreed that after their visit, a team of the NIA would also visit the neighbouring country for the probe and interrogate some people," Singh said while addressing a rally in Amroha.
"But so far Pakistan has not given permission to the NIA to visit there. If the NIA team is not allowed to visit Pakistan, it will be a betrayal to India," he added.
The Union Home Minister yesterday visited the Pathankot airbase, which was attacked by the terrorists on January 2.
Speaking about security concerns in the state, Singh said that the safety of citizens was the foremost priority of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) govt.
"We know that the first step to development is security; every citizen needs to feel secure and borders too need to be secure", said the Home Minister while addressing a rally in Pathankot.
He also touched upon the sensitive Kashmir issue and said that Kashmir as a whole has never been an issue; it is always the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and this issue needs to be addressed with priority.
Four terrorists were killed when they carried out a suicide attack on the strategic Indian Air Force base in Pathankot during the intervening night of January 1-2. Seven security personnel were also killed during the 80-hour-long gun battle.
The Pathankot air base was attacked by heavily armed terrorists during the intervening night of January 1-2reportedly having allegiance to the Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terrorist organisation based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in which four terrorists and three security forces personnel were killed.
A five-member Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT), comprising Additional Inspector General of Police (IGP), a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), two Lt. Colonels and one inspector, from Pakistan had visited India between March 27-31 to collect, review and document physical evidences and to interview key witnesses and victims through the NIA in connection with the Pathankot attack.
Just a few days after the Pakistani JIT probing the Pathankot attack admitted that the four terrorists who attacked the Pathankot Indian Air Force base were from Pakistan, the JIT had said that the attack had been staged by India, according to a Pakistani media report.
The JIT "says the attack was a drama staged to malign Pakistan," according to a report in Pakistan Today.
It further said that the JIT report, which was submitted to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the next few days, had even concluded that Indian authorities had prior information about the terrorists.
Meanwhile, on April 28, the Centre had told the Rajya Sabha that Pakistan had been clearly told that it should allow an Indian probe team to visit that country in connection with Pathankot terror attack as reciprocity was the principle on which Pakistan's JIT was allowed to visit here.
