Pathankot attack: NIA wants Pakistan to provide evidence against handlers

New Delhi, Jan 7: The National Investigating Agency has submitted a report on its initial findings on the Pathankot terror attack to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Yesterday a team of the NIA had visited a village along the Indo-Pak border to investigate the route taken by the terrorists before entering Pathankot.

The NIA was directed to probe the Pathankot attack by the Union Ministry for Home Affairs. The NIA has said there is every indication that the terrorists entered India from Pakistan.

The NIA requires the home ministry to send letter rogatory to Pakistan for evidence against the handlers with whom the terrorists were speaking prior to the attack.

Further the NIA has stated that they would need to seek the help of Pakistan especially when it comes to the voice samples and DNA tests. The NIA is currently basing its evidence on the intercepted telephone calls between the terrorists and their handlers.

The calls made by the terrorists to members of their family is also part of the evidence to suggest that they were from Pakistan. The NIA has told the home ministry that from Pakistan it would require the voice samples of a lady who they suspect was the mother of one of the terrorists. The terrorist had called his mother prior to the attack and said that he would die in a suicide attack.

The NIA has informed the Home Ministry that it would ascertain the identity of the terrorists through DNA testing. We will need to seek details from Pakistan on this, the NIA also states.
Further the NIA has also sought the assistance of the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory. The CSFL would assist in the DNA sampling of the terrorists.

On the questioning of the SP, Salwinder Singh, the NIA suggests that there is something murky. However the NIA is only treating him as an eye witness for now. The NIA also suggests that there is some evidence to suggest that the vehicle of the SP may have been used by the terrorists.

OneIndia News