Pakistani, Indian foreign secretaries to meet on January 15: Aziz

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday arrived at the Pathankot IAF base that was attacked by Pakistani terrorists last week.

Yesterday, Pakistan’s army chief Gen Raheel Sharif reaffirmed zero tolerance for terrorist organisations and took a detailed review of overall internal and external security situation in the country.

Another official quoted in The Nation’s report, however, said that the information provided by India was limited to telephone numbers and Pakistan might ask for additional information.

The huddle hoped that the meeting of the foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India scheduled for January 15 would take place as planned.

The fate of the talks rested on Pakistan’s response to the information, Indian government spokesman Vikas Swarup stated on Thursday. With such an eventuality in mind, the national security advisers of the two countries agreed on a process during a meeting in early December to keep dialogue going in case of a potential disruption, the Pakistani official said.

“China welcomes all measures conducive to improving the Pakistan-India relationship and supports Pakistan and India in beefing up anti-terrorism cooperation”, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press briefing in Beijing.

The meeting at PM House, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, reviewed the “progress on the information shared by India” and chose to continue discussing the matter with Indian authorities.

India has indicated to Pakistan that crucial talks between the foreign secretaries of the two countries are unlikely to go ahead next week unless Pakistan delivers “prompt and decisive action” on the evidence it has given. “It was noted with satisfaction that Pakistan’s counter-terrorism campaign had made significant gains and that Pakistan’s entire leadership and institutions were working in complete harmony to counter terrorism and extremism”, it said.

All the terrorist were killed during a counter-operation by Indian forces that lasted for about three days in which seven security personnel were killed.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has said communication between India and Pakistan is a “hopeful sign” that the two countries will be able to resolve their concerns bilaterally despite the terror attack in Pathankot.