Pakistan Detains JeM Chief Masood Azhar

India has blamed the JeM, a terrorist group which is known to have links with the Pakistani security establishment, for the January 2 attack on the Indian Air Force station at Pathankot in Punjab.

The high-level huddle was attended by COAS General Raheel Sharif, DG ISI, DG IB, and other important functionaries of the government. The sources said that Pakistani investigators “were looking” at other angles of the JeM’s involvement in the Pathankot strike, including the possibility of a few phone calls made to Indians before the terrorists sneaked into Indian territory through an unguarded and unfenced portion of the border.

“He certainly, as I said, encouraged India and Pakistan to work bilaterally to continue discussions and to try to work through these problems”.

Based on initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed have been apprehended. The attack threatened to undermine the two countries’ fragile peace process.

“Pakistan government has said it will take effective action”.

Additional IG Counter Terrorism Department Punjab Rai Tahir Naeem will be the convener of the team.

The sources said that Maulana Masood Azhar’s borther Mufti Abdul Rauf Ashghar was also taken into the custody.

The government did not confirm or deny reports about Azhar’s detention.

“If the media reports of the arrest (Azhar’s) is correct, then it is a positive step which is good a thing for the peace-loving and development-oriented people of the two countries”, BJP national secretary and its media cell in-charge Shrikant Sharma said. I don’t think they spoke with any great detail or specificity about the next round of talks and what’s on the calendar. Another obstacle to the talks could be statements from Afghan police officers that Pakistan military officers were involved in the attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif on January 3.

Seven Indian troops and six militants were killed in the gun battle.

Earlier, an alliance of Kashmiri militant groups had claimed the attack on the Indian Air Force’s Pathankot airbase. “Further investigations are underway”.

Modi had urged his Pakistani counterpart to take “firm and immediate action” against those behind the attack, adding that New Delhi had passed on “specific and actionable information” about the incident.

According to Pakistan PMO, offices of Jaish-e-Mohammad are being sealed as the probe continues.