NEW DELHI, February 15: India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) decided to preserve the bodies of the four terrorists killed in an encounter at the Pathankot airbase for an “indefinite period” as it makes preparations to hand over their photographs to Pakistan, Indian media quoting officials reported on Monday.
The bodies have been kept in deep freezers under “police protection.” They would be preserved till their identities are established, a senior Indian government official said.
Before it decided to send the photographs, the NIA rummaged through the database of all missing persons in India aged 18-35 to establish whether they were Indians or not, reports added.
“We went through the records and made enquiries to see whether these terrorists were Indians or not. We found nothing to that effect and now plan to hand them over to Pakistan to seek their help in identifying the four men,” the official said.
He said Pakistan was bound to cooperate with India under the U.N. Security Council resolution 1373 on counter-terrorism. “We will send the photographs to Pakistan and expect action now. Who are these men and where they hail from? We suspect there could be attempts to disfigure the bodies and that is why we have kept them under police protection,” Indian official said. -Online
