Pakistan clamps down on Jaish-e-Mohammad, shuts its religious schools

At a briefing of the ministry of external affairs (MEA), spokesperson Vikas Swarup welcomed the statement the Pak Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued on Wednesday night, and said the talks have been rescheduled by mutual consent.

Talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan, which were to be held here on Friday, have been postponed, the Foreign Office said on Thursday.

Pakistan did not confirm if they detained the JeM chief earlier, simply announcing that several members of the terror module had been arrested.

The crackdown in Punjab province, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s power base and the headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammad, follows the arrest this week of the militant group’s leader Maulana Masood Azhar and several members of the militant group. Meanwhile, Islamabad is said to be planning to set up a team for Pathankot attack’s probe in an attempt to pacify with India. Welcoming the action taken against JeM by Pakistan, Mr Swarup termed it as “an important and positive step”.

Officials wouldn’t comment on whether the SIT would arrive in India before the next date for the Foreign Secretary talks.

“Pakistan and India have agreed to reschedule Foreign Secretary level talks in the very near future”, Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah tweeted today. The report states that Sanaullah clarified the JeM chief was not arrested but in custody of the Punjab police counter-terrorism department. Asked about the detention of Azhar, Khalilullah stressed: “I am not aware of any such arrest”.

“The statement conveys that considerable progress has been made in the investigation being carried out against terrorist elements linked to the Pathankot incident”.

The Indian government further denied media reports that NSA Ajit Doval and his Pakistani counterpart Nasir Janjua have met in a third country.

Government has said it is clamping down on Azhar’s group while it investigates Indian assertions that the January 2 attack on the Pathankot air base was the work of the Pakistan-based militants.