Pakistan On Dangerous Road, God’s Army Won’t Feel My Absence Says Detained

In well-coordinated moves, India and Pakistan on Thursday ensured that the Pathankot terror attack does not derail their engagement by mutually agreeing to a short deferment of foreign secretary-level talks and India giving the go-ahead to the visit of a Pakistan SIT.

Swarup also said the expected meeting between India and Pakistan’s foreign secretaries has been rescheduled to “some time in the near future”.

Though there was news allover that Maulana Masood Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad of Pathankot attacks was detained in Pakistan, there seems to be no official confirmation on his arrest. “We have been assured by the Indian government that it would take all the necessary steps for the security of the PIA offices in India”, the spokesman said.

Expressing similar sentiments, Pak foreign office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said the FS-level talks for which Jaishankar was to travel would not take place as planned.

Answering another question, Swarup categorically denied that the foreign secretaries of the two nations have met in the past few days, following the attack on the Indian airbase.

On Thursday, Sanaullah, while speaking on DawnNews talk show “News Eye”, said that Masood Azhar was taken into protective custody by the counter-terrorism department.

The offices had reportedly been sealed in Bahwalnagar, Bahawalpur, Multan and Muzafargarh cities and the suspected members of the group were also held, top officials briefed Sharif. The move comes even after what appears to be a familiar flip-flop on the arrest of the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar.

Talking to Pakistani media, today, Khalilullah said, he had no idea that the Jaish chief was arrested or not.

India then provided “actionable intelligence” to Pakistan and asked it to crack down against the attack masterminds.

Asserting that Islamabad was under intense worldwide pressure to hold talks with India, Defence matters expert P.K. Sehgal on Friday said that people in Pakistan are convinced that their Army and the ISI were involved in the Mazar-i-Sharif and Pathankot attacks.

“Mutual consultations are on regarding the rescheduling of the talks”.

The January 2 attack on the base in Pathankot was followed by a raid on an Indian consulate in Afghanistan that has also been linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad, or the Army of Mohammad. “Pakistan has offered to send their investigation team to India and we will welcome it”, he added.