Pakistan arrests Jaish members, plans to send investigators to Pathankot

It’s official. The foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan will not take place on Friday, as scheduled earlier.

For the second day running, Pakistani media was thick with reports about Azhar’s detention, with persistent speculation that the detention was not made public to ward off the possibility of protests by legions of Jaish supporters in Punjab province and to get around the legal requirement to intimate the court about the action, a stipulation which would also bring lawyers in play.

The arrest of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar by Pakistan today evoked a guarded response from both BJP and Congress, while Shiv Sena remained unimpressed with the action and described it as their “usual game” of arresting and then letting them off later.

A senior government official close to the investigation said that Azhar, who has been placed under house arrest in the past but never prosecuted, would be prosecuted this time if evidence connected him to the attack on the Pathankot air base.

New Delhi also said it would allow a Special Investigation Team proposed by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for probe into the Pathankot strike.

The Pakistan Government on Wednesday said it had arrested several members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, which is suspected of being behind the Pathankot Air Base attack earlier this month. The organisation’s offices are also being traced and sealed. “The participation of the Chief Of Army Staff (Raheel Sharif) in a meeting chaired by the prime minister to consider the information provided by India is to be welcomed”. Further investigation is underway in this regard, the statement said. Moreover, after Pathankot, the government believes there may be more such attacks meant to derail the peace process.

But later in the evening, India said it has not received any confirmation from Pakistan regarding the detention.

But a surprise December 25 visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet Sharif raised hope that stop-and-start talks between the bitter rivals might finally yield progress.

A repeat of the Mumbai stand-off would expose Pakistan to “ridicule and ignominy”, Qazi said, adding that the country could come under enormous global pressure, including the threat of sanctions, if it does not cooperate with India.

India had claimed that Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists based in Pakistan were responsible for the attack on January 2 which left seven Indian security personnel dead.

India has long accused Pakistan of turning a blind eye to Islamic militants who have staged cross-border attacks and battled Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region.