Pakistan arrests militant group members after Indian air base attack

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday chaired a high-level civil-military meeting in Islamabad to discuss the prevailing security situation in the country.

Pakistan has also said it’s considering sending a special investigation team to Pathankot as more information would be required to carry forward the process of cooperation with India.

India has identified Masood Azhar, chief of banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, as the mastermind of the attack.

The participants of meeting agreed that Pakistan would continue acting against terrorists and none of militant groups would be treated with discrimination.

The home minister’s remark came just a day after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar talked tough and said that any individual or organization causing harm to India should also be made to feel the pain.

News of the arrests comes 48 hours before a rare meeting between the foreign secretaries of the nuclear-armed rivals is tentatively scheduled to take place.

A National Investigation Agency team today visited Jammu’s Samba and Kathua to probe similarities between terror attacks in the two districts and the one in Pathankot.

After the January 2 Pathankot air base attack, New Delhi said it had provided Islamabad with intelligence information to take action against the perpetrators who allegedly belonged to Pakistan.

Six Pakistani terrorists believed to be from the outlawed JeM sneaked into Punjab and raided the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot, killing seven security personnel.

Meanwhile, Washington was also pressing the two countries to continue bilateral dialogue on all outstanding issues including the recent attack on Indian airbase in Pathankot.

The News said that Pakistan has completed initial investigation on the terror attack and handed over its report to Indian authorities.

The statement after Wednesday’s meeting reiterated that “in line with our decision to counter and completely eliminate terrorism, Pakistan would remain engaged with India on this issue”.