India, Pakistan reschedule high-level peace talks

Jan 14 India and Pakistan have agreed to reschedule talks between their foreign secretaries, the Indian foreign ministry said on Thursday, after an attack on an Indian military base this month. While talking to the media, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said that Pakistan is ‘not aware of such arrests’.

The detention of about a dozen members of Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM), said to be behind the attack, was today welcomed by India as an “important and positive first step” even as it emphasised that “empty statements” alone would not do because it wanted action on the ground. The notification orders the team to carry out its investigation and submit its recommendations to the Interior Ministry. “We also note that the government of Pakistan considering to send a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the Pathankot terror attack”, he said.

Indian investigators have said that phone intercepts suggest that the gunmen in the assault came from Pakistan.

In an article posted on the official mouthpiece of the JeM, Azhar criticized Pakistan’s decision to crackdown on his outfit, calling it as “acting under Indian pressure”. Azhar’s brother Abdul Rehman Rauf has also been detained, Geo TV said.

Azhar’s “protective custody” does not amount to an arrest.

A PMO statement issued in Islamabad after the meeting said it noted with satisfaction that as part of Pakistan’s commitment to eliminate terrorism from its soil and the expressed national resolve not to allow the territory to be used for acts of terrorism anywhere.

Top diplomats were scheduled to meet in the Pakistani capital on Friday to set out a roadmap for talks on settling the Kashmir dispute and other irritants in their ties. “It doesn’t amount to presumption of guilt or arrest”.

In 2000, Azhar arrived from Afghanistan to Pakistan where he has stayed since.