PATHANKOT ATTACK MEA says ‘actionable’ intelligence given, ball in Pak court; India identifies 5 key Jaish ‘handlers’
HT Correspondent
KAMALJIT SINGH/HTArmymen at Pandher village after reports of two suspected terrorists hiding in sugarcane fields, in Gurdaspur on Thursday.NEW DELHI: Talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan slated for January 15 seemed to be on thin ice as New Delhi on Thursday linked the event with “decisive and prompt” action by Islamabad on the deadly terror attack at the Pathankot airbase.
The foreign ministry stated the position without setting a deadline for Pakistan, even as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif discussed the terrorist strike at a high-level meeting in Islamabad. He was reportedly briefed about the status of a ban on the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which is suspected to be behind the attack.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told his cabinet colleagues that bilateral talks would not resume until Islamabad took action against the terror group and he had made this clear during a phone call with Sharif. “Action is a must. We are going to be very strict about it,” Modi was learnt to have said at the meeting.
Indian security agencies have identified five key figures from JeM who were involved in the conspiracy and New Delhi wants Islamabad to act against them. The terrorists under the scanner are the group’s chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Rauf Asghar, Maulana Ashfaq Ahmad, Hafiz Abdul Shakur and Kasim Jan.
Unlike in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case where it remained in constant denial, Pakistan has not rejected India’s assertions about the role of the terror outfit in the Pathankot attack.
“India wants peaceful ties with all neighbours, including Pakistan but will not countenance cross-border terrorism. Actionable intelligence was given to Pakistan. Ball is in Pakistan’s court now,” ministry of external affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters on Thursday.
He, however, parried questions about the possibility of the talks being cancelled, maintaining that India was not fixing any deadline for Pakistan to respond, nor was it “foreshadowing” the talks.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who assured us a prompt response… India now awaits a prompt and decisive action,” said Swarup. “Eight days remain for the foreign secretary-level talks between the countries; let’s see what happens in the days before January 15.”The meeting Sharif chaired in Islamabad was attended by his national security adviser, Naseer Khan Janjua, foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry and foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz.
Janjua, according to sources, briefed them about his discussions with his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval.A brief statement issued after the meeting by Sharif’s office only said “issues pertaining to national and regional security were discussed” but did not give details.
Pakistan has condemned the Pathankot attack and said it wants to build on the goodwill created by a December 25 meeting between Modi and Sharif when Indian PM called up his Pakistani counterpart from Kabul and took an impromptu decision to fly down to Lahore on the latter’s invitation.
Gurdaspur on the edge as troops prepare to take on two ‘militants’
GURDASPUR: Security personnel, including an Israel-trained SWAT team, spilled into the fields and byways of Punjab’s Pandher village on Thursday to flush out two suspected terrorists, with the authorities fearing an attack on a key military facility days after a terror siege at the nearby Pathankot airbase.
Sources confirmed that government forces were prepared for an offensive a day after locals reported seeing two men in military fatigues acting suspiciously near the army cantonment in Gurdaspur district. When confronted, the men took cover in a sugarcane field, witnesses said.
Punjab Police deputy inspector general (border range) Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh said: “We are not taking any chances. Aerial surveillance and troop movement is on.” “A drone helped locate their location and by Thursday afternoon, the army and police teams took position,” a police source said.
Soldiers concealed themselves on rooftops, behind trees and at a brick kiln as armoured vehicles rolled into the village in the afternoon. A helicopter had conducted surveillance sorties earlier in the day. By night, the sugarcane field spread over 30 acres was lit up by searchlights.
Pandher village is nearly 20km off the India-Pakistan border and about a stone’s throw from the Tibri military cantonment. The facility is not far from the Pathankot air force station that saw a four-day long counterterror operation in which six terrorists were killed.