The violence follows Indian Prime Minister Modi’s surprise December 25 visit to Pakistan, where he met with his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif – a trip that marked a significant thaw in the mostly tense relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors. The civilian government there has to be strengthened. That contradicted earlier statements by home ministry and army officials who, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two holdouts had been killed. This is a good thing and needs to be taken forward.
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At least seven troops and four militants have been killed in the fighting.
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The breaching of the base’s defences has also raised questions about lax security on the global border in Punjab, which is a known route for drug smugglers and is less closely guarded than the Line of Control running through disputed Kashmir state.
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“India has given a clear message to all terrorists and their bosses that India is not at all tolerant towards terror. We are yet to retrieve their bodies”, the officer said.
Since Saturday morning, the base has been swarming with air force commandos, troops from India’s elite National Security Guard and local police.
Officials said the attack bore the hallmarks of previous suspected assaults by Pakistan-based militant groups, underscoring the fragility of recent efforts to revive bilateral talks between the often uneasy neighbors.
The attack at the Pathankot air force base began a couple of hours before dawn, and by late morning it appeared that the violence had ended with the killing of the gunmen by Indian forces.
A strategy on Pakistan was discussed on Sunday by the government with former foreign secretaries and ex-envoys to the neighbouring country, a day after the terror strike at a vital air base in Pathankot.
Modi, on a visit to southern India, made no further comment on the Pathankot attack.
Divulging detail of the operation, Air Marshal Khosla said, “An advance warning was given and all the airfields in the area was put on alert, especially Pathankot area…Air Officer Commanding in Chief of the Western Command himself went to the airfield and supervised all the operations”.
The party condemned the attack and congratulated the security forces for “foiling” the terror attack on the air base and said India was capable of giving a befitting reply to such attacks.
An army official confirmed the death of the militant as the operation to secure the base – used by MiG-21 fighter jets and attack helicopters – stretched into a second day on Sunday.
Intelligence officials told The Indian Express that the information available on Friday suggested only that four terrorists were involved in the attack – an assessment based on eyewitness testimony from Superintendent of Police P Salwinder Singh, his friend Rajesh Verma, and Verma’s cook Madan Gopal, whose vehicle was hijacked on Friday by the terrorists.
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“That India has learnt few lessons despite repeated attacks is evident from the fact that the Pathankot attackers crossed the border from virtually the same place as those who were responsible for last year’s attack in Gurdaspur”.
