Pakistan's U-turn on Pathankot not official, but expect dramatics

It has become increasingly clear that Pakistan is all set to deny the role of its citizens in the Pathankot attack.

Although there has not been an official statement from Pakistan, they have made sure that their views have been floated through their media outlets.

When the Joint Investigation Team visited India to probe the attack there was quite a lot of bonhomie, which to be honest looked quite unreal.

It appeared as though Pakistan would cooperate fully with India and even the NIA had said that they were given a patient hearing and there was never any denial.

Dramatics and excuses:

Pakistan following the Pathankot attack indulged in a lot of dramatics. Prior to the visit to the JIT, they detained three handlers of the Jaish-e-Mohammad namely Ishradul, Khalid Mohammad and Shoaib Mohammad.

They even kept under protective custody, Maulana Masood Azhar, the ideological head of the JeM. Sources tell OneIndia that all this was done as one part of the establishment felt that it must cooperate with India and get to the bottom of it.

However, there is another part of the establishment which is unfortunately stronger which felt that this kind of bonhomie must be stopped immediately.

When the JIT was readying its India visit, it had a demand and that was to visit the air force station. It was access to select parts of the air base.

The JIT would have hoped that they were denied access as they could have quoted this as one of the reasons to not cooperate with the probe.

The next demand that was made by them was to question the officials of the Indian Army, BSF, NSG and the Air Force. This was denied by India.

Pakistan now says that they were denied because India had something to hide. An NIA official says that as per the law, the statements of these officers can be recorded before a magistrate and the foreign agency would have to rely on it.

Further, the NIA also says that the JIT refused to visit the mortuary where the bodies of the four terrorists has been preserved.

This looked suspicious to us and we even asked them about their decision. However there never was any concrete answer and today it appears that they did this so that they could issue a statement of denial.

Who calls the shots?

As has been pointed out earlier in this story there is a part of the Pakistan establishment which will not give up on the likes of Masood Azhar.

This man who is one of their most important proxies is a major asset to them. Be it Kashmir, Afghanistan or protecting Chinese investments in Pakistan, Azhar has a major role to play.

The likes of Azhar not only flag the Kashmir issue which benefits Pakistan, but also provides crucial intelligence to the ISI regarding Pakistan's bad terrorists such as the Tehrik-e-Taliban.

Azhar, who had gone out of favour for a couple of years following an assassination bid on former Pakistan President Pervez Mushraff today, has become their most important man. Hence, it was only natural for them to protect him and his outfit.