Pathankot attack: NIA likely to share route, attackers' names with Pakistan

NEW DELHI: The NIA has established a new route that was purportedly used by Jaish-e-Mohammad ( JeM) militants who attacked Pathankot airbase in January to gain entry into India along the border ahead of the expected visit of Pakistan’s special investigation team on March 27.

The agency is likely to share these details, along with the names of the four JeM militants it claims to have identified, with Pakistan’s SIT probing the attack, which is set to arrive in India on March 27, NIA sources said. A two-month long probe by the NIA revealed that the militants entered near ‘Dinda forward’ border outpost (BoP) and not Bamiyal as reported earlier.

This, according to investigators, is a new route that has set the alarm bells ringing among the security establishment. BSF, which monitors the 553 km of border in Punjab, has been asked to step up its surveillance in this area, said officials. Top NIA sources told ET that they zeroed in on the possible point of infiltration as Dinda forward after they found some of the belongings of the militants and food packets.

Empty food packets of Shahi chicken, jam, cookies and Nestle milk were buried in a pit. These belongings and evidence collected by NIA were part of the letter rogatory (LR) sent by the agency to Islamabad early this month in connection with the Pathankot attack probe. Dinda forward, according to the probe team, is located nearly two kilometres ahead of Bamiyal.