Pakistan arrests JeM members, vows cooperation with India

Offices of the organisation were also sealed on Wednesday in the first major action taken by Pakistan after the January 2 terror attack on the Pathankot air base in which seven Indian soldiers were killed.

Law enforcement agencies have also picked up “some suspects” connected to Pathankot airbase attack from Bahwalapur district, the hometown of Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan – longtime, nuclear-armed arch-rivals on the Indian subcontinent – are set to hold a rare, previously scheduled meeting on Friday, part of a budding diplomatic thaw after decades of hostility.

Condemning the incident, Pakistan had reiterated its commitment to cooperate with India to eradicate the menace of terrorism afflicting the region.

The attack was claimed by the separatist group United Jihad Council, an alliance of Kashmiri militants. The air base incursion came days after prime minister Narendra Modi made a surprise stop at Lahore on his way back from Kabul to greet Nawaz Sharif on his birthday.

The sources said that two vital pieces of information that New Delhi shared with Islamabad were “developed” by a joint team of Pakistani investigators who quickly swooped down on a few buildings used by the JeM in southern Punjab.

National Security Advisor retired Lt General Nasir Khan Janjua briefed the meeting about Pathankot attack.

In 2008, Islamabad turned down New Delhi’s demand it dispatch the head of its intelligence agency to India after Pakistani militants carried out a series of high-profile attacks across Mumbai that left 166 people dead.

The announcement followed a high-level meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired here on Wednesday to review the progress in the investigation against alleged Pakistani masterminds of the terror attack.

It was said that the security forces have raided offices of JEM and sealed several of its offices.

“He (Sharif) also discussed the issue with army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and took him on board about the decision to form a JIT”, it added.

It has provided telephone number in Pakistan contacted by the airbase attackers and given other inputs.