Nawaz calls Modi, expresses sorrow over Pathankot incident

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will have to act following his government’s statement that it was working on leads provided by New Delhi in the wake of the Saturday attack on the IAF base at Pathankot, The Nation said.

The Ministry of External Affairs said that Modi strongly emphasised the need for Pakistan to take firm and immediate action against those responsible for and linked to the attack.

Sources say Sharif made the call only after the U.S. made it clear that it expected Islamabad to take action against “perpetrators of the terror attack”.

In an article in the Daily Beast, Riedel said the attacks in Pathankot and on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan was the handiwork of Pakistani terror group Jaish-e-Muhammad which the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) created 15 years ago. The French government said, “France condemns attack on Indian military base; stands alongside India in fight against terrorism”.

Pathankot: Guns fell silent on Tuesday morning at the air base in Pathankot even as the operation against terrorists entered its fourth day with security personnel engaged in search and combing operations to sanitise the installation.

Five attackers have also been eliminated, but an operation was still under way to secure the sprawling compound in Indian Punjab that lies 25 km from the India-Pakistan border.

The attackers had reportedly made several calls to Pakistan, some of them brief and some long. The temptation was there to accuse Pakistan as is obvious from Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s initial comments that although India was keen on good ties with Pakistan, it would give a “fitting reply to terror attacks”.

The council is based in Pakistan’s portion of Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between the countries but claimed in its entirety by both.

“Prime Minister pointed out to Indian Prime Minister that whenever a serious effort to bring peace between two countries was underway terrorists try to derail the process”, it added.

He said six terrorists have been neutralised and two bodies are charred beyond recognition. “We understand the pain of many families who have lost their dear ones in this tragedy, as Pakistan itself is a major victim of terrorism”.

India and Pakistan must accordingly “proceed very cautiously”, it said. Hopefully, the advice she got was to continue moving forward on the talks track.