Security agencies have identified one of the six Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists neutralised by the forces during the attack on the Pathankot airbase as Naseer and the Pakistan-based handlers of the
fidayeen that include the outfit’s chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar who was the mastermind behind the Air India flight IC814 hijack in 1999, Ashfaque Ahmed and Haji Abdul Shakur Qasim.
After analysing the evidence gathered so far, the agencies have also concluded that the conspiracy was hatched near lahore.
The details of these four persons have been shared with the Pakistani Government “through the proper channel” and India has pressed for stern action against them as a condition for furthering peace talks with that country, top Government sources said.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has spoken to his Pakistani counterpart lieutenant-General (Retd) Janjua and shared all relevant evidence, including voice data.
Doval has urged his counterpart to arrest the mastermind and conspirators behind the terror attack on the airbase and hand them over to India for questioning by law enforcement agencies here.
The Centre has also told Pakistani authorities about the clear footprint of terrorists operating from that country including phone call records and signature of Pakistan ordnance factories on the arms and ammunition recovered from the jehadis besides the labels on items like shoes gathered from the liquidated fidayeen.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier said that there are indications that some of the materials used by the terrorists were made in Pakistan.
Rauf was the mastermind behind the hijack of the Air India flight IC814 in Kathmandu in 1999 which was later taken to Kandahar in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The eight-day hijack crisis had ended after release of three hardcore militants including Azhar in exchange for the freedom of passengers and crew members.
The Pathankot airbase attackers in batches of two each were engaged by the Defence Security Corps (DSC) guards and Garud Commandos for 25 minutes, just 400 metres away from the technical area housing vital assets before four of them were neutralized. The first casualties on the Indian side included Garud Commando Gursewak Singh and DSC guard Jagdish Chander besides Squadron leader BK Dubey, Manoj and Honorary Captain Fateh Singh.
The remaining two terrorists, who had taken shelter behind an abandoned barrack were killed after security forces destroyed the building. They were charred to death so badly that only the nails and molten flesh were recovered from the debris of the destroyed barrack. A Central Forensic Science laboratory (CFSl) team was flown in a special aircraft from Chandigarh to ascertain the number of those killed in the destroyed barrack. Through DNA tests, the CFSl team established that two persons were killed in the razed barracks.
Meanwhile, Intelligence agencies have launched a massive enquiry to unravel the possible nexus between a section of the BSF, the local police and the drug syndicate operating from across the border following two attacks at airbases in Punjab in quick succession.
A few months before the attack at Pathankot airbase, the Pakistan-based terrorists had carried out an attack in Gurdaspur killing four policemen and three civilians. Other important Defence installations in Punjab include airbases at Amritsar and Halwara among others and the security agencies do not want any repeat of terror incidents in Punjab. These facilities also take care of air defences and logistics in Jammu & Kashmir.