Little doubt that Pathankot terrorists are from Pakistan: NIA

Meanwhile, in the wake of the Pathankot attack as well as the strike on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan, both probably originating in Pakistan, indications were that next week’s scheduled visit by Foreign Secretary Jaishankar to Islamabad for talks will be put off.

As clearance operations continued, military officials were developing a plan to reinforce the base, a senior air force official in Delhi said, including putting up new fencing and employing more modern security technology.

Indian forces have killed the last of the six militants who attacked an air force base near the Pakistan border over the weekend, the defence minister said Tuesday, though soldiers were still searching the base as a precaution. Security forces killed five terrorists. Seven Indian soldiers were killed during the attack. We have been able to eliminate the fifth terrorist.

In the first known claim of responsibility, the United Jehad Council, an alliance of 13 Kashmir-based rebel groups, claimed that its “highway squad”, which normally attacks military convoys, carried out the attack.

It remains unclear exactly how the attackers infiltrated the fortified and guarded base, which has a 24-km (15-mile) perimeter surrounded by a 3-metre (10-foot) concrete wall topped with concertina wire.

“The government of Pakistan has spoken very powerfully to this and it’s certainly our expectation that they’ll treat this exactly the way they’ve said they would”, State Department Spokesman John Kirby said yesterday on the attack by Pakistani terrorists on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.

“We urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take the nation into confidence and consult the leadership of the principal opposition parties on this matter”, said Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma.

However, reports, not officially confirmed, said that National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval had provided to Pakistani authorities the details like the Pakistani numbers which the attackers had called and their intercepts.

Pakistani authorities have said that the order would be ready by the end of 2017.

The Nation, a Pakistani newspaper, quoted Sharif as saying: “We are with India in this hard time and will assist in any way possible…”

Islamabad has promised to act on the leads, and New Delhi has no other option but to wait.