[caption id="attachment_52683" align="aligncenter" width="400"]
Protesters carry photographs of the chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed, Maulana Masood Azhar (L) and chief of Pakistan’s outlawed Islamic hardline Jamaat ud Dawa (JD), Hafiz Mohammad Saeed (R) during a protest against the attack on the air force base in Pathankot.[/caption]
PTI
ISLAMABAD, JANUARY 11
Amid mounting pressure, Pakistani authorities on Monday carried out raids at several places and arrested some suspects in connection with the terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase, intelligence officials said.
Officials said that raids were carried out in Gujranwala, Jhelum and Bahawalpur districts and an unspecified number of people were arrested.
“Probe has been going to ascertain if they were involved in the attack or some of them facilitated it,” they said. The arrests led Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to order a Joint Investigation Team of IB, Inter-Services Intelligence, military intelligence, federal investigation agency and police to thoroughly probe the Pathankot attack links to Pakistan.Sharif has already said that a transparent investigation will be made and those involved will not be spared.
India has provided telephone number in Pakistan contacted by the airbase attackers and given other inputs while asking Islamabad to take punitive actions against the handlers and possible mastermind.
Foreign secretary-level talks may be deferred: Pakistan
The foreign secretary-level talks between Pakistan and India could be deferred by New Delhi, a newspaper reported on Monday.
This follows the January 2 terrorist attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in Punjab which left seven security personnel dead. Security forces killed six terrorists who were believed to be from Pakistan.
The News International quoted “highly placed diplomatic sources” as saying there had been no information thus far about the visit of the Indian foreign secretary for the January 15 talks in Islamabad.
“It is likely that India would notify the postponement at the eleventh hour some time next week,” the daily said.
No communication has taken place between Islamabad and New Delhi on the foreign secretary talks since the Pathankot attack, it said.
Pakistan does not want the foreign secretary level talks to get derailed as they were expected to pave the way for a comprehensive composite dialogue covering all outstanding disputes including Kashmir, it added.
Sushma meets HM amid uncertainty over peace talks with Pak
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday met Home Minister Rajnath Singh, amid the uncertainty over the Indo-Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks scheduled in Islamabad on January 15 after the Pathankot terror attack.
According to official sources, the 20-minute one-on-one meeting was held on a request of Swaraj. However, offices of both Singh and Swaraj did not comment on the issues discussed between the two.
Sources indicated that the recent terrorist attack in Pathankot, where seven security personnel were killed, might have figured in the meeting.
All terror-related information and inputs about Pakistan- based terrorist groups are provided by the Home Ministry to the External Affairs Ministry whenever India-Pakistan meet to discuss bilateral issues.
In a clear message, India has linked the FS-level talks to Islamabad’s “prompt and decisive” action in the Pathankot terror attack for which it has provided “actionable intelligence”.
In a pre-dawn attack, a group of heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists attacked the Air Force base in Pathankot on January 2.
The process of resumption of talks was set in motion after a meeting between Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan in Paris on November 30 on the sidelines of Climate Change Conference.
The meet was followed by the NSAs of India and Pakistan meeting in Bangkok a week later following which the External Affairs Minister visited Pakistan to attend Heart of Asia Conference during which the two sides announced the resumption of talks under “Bilateral Comprehensive Dialogue” process. In a surprise move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also visited Lahore on December 25 to greet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday in person.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today asserted that any individual or organisation causing pain to India should be paid back in the same coin but how, when and where “should be of our choice”, remarks which come in the backdrop of the Pathankot terror attack.
Addressing an audience which consisted of top brass of the Army, including its chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, the Minister said that history tells us that until those who inflict damage on others experience the same pain, they don’t change.
“I am of the opinion, it should not be taken as a government thinking, I always believe that if anyone harms you, he understands the same language.
“How, when and place should be of your choice but if someone is harming this country, then that particular individual or organisation, I purposely used the words individual and organisation, should also receive the pain of such activities,” he said at a seminar organised by the Army here.
Asked to elaborate, Parrikar later said, “Basic principle is that until we give them pain, whoever they may be, until then, such incidents will not reduce”.
Without referring to the Pathankot attack, the Minister said the country was proud of its seven soldiers who laid down their lives but he is pained by the loss.
“I don’t appreciate it. I have said that it is time we tell our soldiers that it is inevitable that we will lose some soldiers, and in this incident we lost one person in actual combat.
“We should tell them to think of the concept of taking life of your enemy, enemy of the country, instead of giving your life. This is an important aspect,” he said.
He said that while sacrifice is respected, what nation needs is to neutralise the enemy.
Asked if that means there is a change in policy from the previous UPA government, Parrikar retorted, “If someone comes and hammers you, you should keep quite? Was that the policy?
“What I am saying is basically that history tells you that those who damage you, if they don’t realise what pain they inflict, then they don’t change”.
