India’s Modi Visits Pathankot Air Base

Continuation of India-Pakistan talks is needed in the interest of regional stability and the leadership role by both the prime ministers is required to ensure continuous dialogue, Secretary Kerry added.

Though a statement issued by Sharif’s office on Friday had said that the Prime Minister had reviewed the “progress on the information shared by India”, sources said no action had so far been taken against the JeM or its leaders.

“We are expecting evidence beyond leads and information to proceed as per our law”, a senior official said in a background discussion after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a meeting of his security aides on the Pathankot incident and Pakistan’s response.

A week before Pathankot attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had surprised the world by visiting Pakistan on 25th December, where he met his counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

Sharif said Pakistan would not allow anyone to use its soil to carry out terror operations overseas, it added.

Pakistan Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said on Saturday that the schedule of talks between foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India is still intact.

Briefing reporters on January 7, John Kirby, the US State Department spokesperson, said that the country was in touch with Pakistan on this issue.

So soon after the terror attack, tight security arrangements were in place for the Prime Minister’s visit in and around Pathankot.

Kerry on his part expressed hoped that the talks between the two hostile nations “would continue” despite the attack which was meant to thwart the peace process. “They (Pakistan) said they’re going to investigate it. They said they’re not going to discriminate between terrorist groups when they conduct counter-terrorism operations”, the official said.

Participants in the meeting agreed that strong action would be taken after the probe if anyone in Pakistan is found guilty of involvement in the attack, the report said.

Heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists yesterday attempted to storm the Air Force base in Pathankot, triggering a day-long gunbattle in which three security men and all the five infiltrators were killed.

The PM’s visit comes in the wake of criticism by the Opposition of the Government’s “failure” in handling the terror assault which led to the death of seven security personnel, including a Lieutenant-Colonel of the National Security Guards.

The attackers allegedly were in contact with handlers in Pakistan.