Pathankot probe: Pak JIT applies for visa to come to India

New Delhi: A five-member Pakistani Joint Investigation Team on Tuesday applied for visa to come to India to carry forward the probe into the Pathankot terror attack, a week after the announcement by Foreign Ministers of the two countries that it will come here on March 27.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the modalities of the visit of the JIT will now be finalised as Pakistan has given the names of the delegation to Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

“We have today received visa applications of five members of Pakistan’s joint investigation team. The modalities of the visit will be discussed now as we have the composition of the team,” he told reporters.

Asked whether the JIT will be given access to the Pathankot air base and duration of their stay, Swarup said details like where they will go, how they will go and what kind of access they will be given are being finalised.

“All these will be subject of discussion as modalities will now be finalised,” he said.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, after a meeting with her Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz, last week in Nepal’s Pokhra on the sidelines of a SAARC Foreign Ministers’ meeting had announced that the Pakistani JIT will arrive in India on March 27.

When asked who will represent government at the Pakistan National Day celebrations at their High Commission tomorrow, Swarup said a senior Minister will attend but did not give the name.

Asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington next week, he said though there are “slots” for the bilaterals but no concrete schedule has been firmed up so far.

Aziz, after the meeting with Swaraj in Pokhra, had said that the two PMs would be possibly holding a bilateral in Washington.

—PTI