Pakistan says India attack probe will ‘bring out the truth’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have the first-hand assessment of the situation at the air base from top Indian Air Force officials.

The assault on the base near the Pakistan border has thrown into doubt diplomatic talks planned for later this month between the nuclear-armed rivals.

In fact, India has told Pakistan that Foreign Secretaries’ meeting would depend on the action taken on the culprits of Pathankot terror attack.

The Pakistan PMO statement said Sharif “told Secretary Kerry that we are swiftly carrying out investigations in a transparent manner and will bring out the truth”.

“World will see our effectiveness and sincerity in this regard”, Sharif was quoted as telling the U.S. Secretary of State.

Secretary Kerry said the United States applauded the prime minister’s leadership role over Pakistan-India relations.

He visited the two-storey billet for airmen’s accommodation where the last two terrorists were killed after the structure was blown up by security forces.

Air Force Chief Arup Raha and National Security Guard officials briefed the prime minister about the attack and the counter-offensive launched against the perpetrators. “They are our pride”, Modi tweeted.

Modi called on Pakistan earlier in the week to take action against those behind the attack, in which six militants also died.

The prime minister after his return from Sri Lanka had held two high-level security meetings on the issue and he himself is monitoring the progress on the investigation being done on the leads provided by India. The siege continued for three days, and ended after security forces killed all six terrorists involved. The media was kept away from the air base. Seven security personnel also lost their lives.

This comes after a senior State Department official from the USA said that Pakistan should not come out with lame excuses to shield them as has been the case with the Mumbai terrorist attack.

Officials had previously said that the shared information included intercepts of telephone calls made by militants to their alleged handlers and the locations of the numbers which they (militants) had called in Pakistan.

Uncertainty prevails on talks scheduled for January 15 in Islamabad between Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry following the terror strike on the Pathankot air base which originated from Pakistan.