The US has handed over evidence, comprising over 1,000 pages of chats and conversations between the handler Kashif Jaan and the four fidayeens who were eventually killed, to the NIA. The conversations, as in the case of the Lashkar bosses who had scripted the carnage in Mumbai in 2008 from a safe house in Karachi, made it clear that the terror strike on Pathankot was also micro-managed from Pakistan.

The four fidayeen of JeM, identified as Nasir Hussain from Punjab, Abu Bakar from Gujranwala and Umar Farooq and Abdul Qayum from Sindh, were in regular touch with their handlers in Pakistan during the 80-hour attack.

The documents include Kashif Jaan's conversations with other Pakistan-based JeM office-bearers apart from other exchanges over a period of time. NIA officials are analysing the documents.

The proof shared by the US through MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty) will strengthen India's case ahead of the home minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Islamabad next week for the SAARC interior ministers' and home ministers' conference. It can also help in India renewing its plea for the UNSC sanction on Masood Azar as a terrorist.

The investigations reveal that apart from chats on WhatsApp and other platforms, Jaan was using a Facebook account connected to the same mobile number which the attackers called from Pathankot after abducting Punjab police SP Salwinder Singh. The terrorists had called another number in Pakistan connected to a Facebook account of 'Mulla Daadullah'. These accounts are operated by Jaan, were accessed before and around the time of the attack using IP addresses of telecom firms based in Pakistan (Telenor and Pakistan TeleCommunications Company Ltd, Islamabad).

These Facebook pages also contains jihadi material and videos and comments condemning teh arrest of Jaish cadres in Pakistan. The terrorists had called to the numbers connected to Al-Rahmat Trust - JeM's financial arm - for which technical details were sought from the US.

By Premji