Pakistan moving in right direction on Pathankot attack probe

“We have taken Maulana Azhar and his fellows under protective custody in connection with the Pathankot incident”, Punjab province Law Minister Rana Sanaullah has told the Dawn News.

He also said Azhar could be formally arrested if his involvement in the Pathankot attack, which left seven Indian security personnel and six attackers dead, was proved.

“Pakistan and India have agreed to reschedule foreign secretary level talks [set for January 15] in the very near future”, Qazi Khalilullah, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman, said in a statement on Thursday. Swarup said India would not go by “empty statements” and will like to see action on the ground. Final decisions to reschedule the foreign secretary-level talks and accepting a visit from an investigation team from Pakistan were taken after high level meetings in Islamabad on Wednesday chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and in India on the return from Paris of Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Thursday afternoon with the prime minister. Responding to a questioner, Mr Swarup said the comprehensive dialogue between the two nations had not been put on hold and the two Foreign Secretaries would discuss the modalities of the resuming the talks. If SIT does arrive in Pathankot, it will be the first time when India and Pakistan jointly investigate a terror attack directed from Pakistan in India.

Reports of detention of JeM chief Masood Azhar widely carried by the Pakistani media and picked up by the Indian press, were not confirmed by New Delhi as there was no official communication on it from Pakistan.

Following his release and subsequent return to Pakistan, Azhar split with Harkatul Mujahideen in 2000 and formed his own militant outfit Jaish-i-Mohammad.

External affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup also said that India viewed the crackdown on the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist group in Pakistan as an “important and positive first step”.

Earlier, Pakistan government also chose not to confirm or deny the reports that Azhar has been taken into “protective custody”.