The foreign secretaries of the nuclear-armed neighbors are due to meet for talks on Jan 15, building on a thaw in relations after a surprise visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif last month.
Advertisement
The Ministry of External Affairs said that Modi strongly emphasised the need for Pakistan to take firm and immediate action against those responsible for and linked to the attack.
The Indian government official earlier said security forces had killed four of the attackers, adding that one was believed to be holed up in the facility. “We have extended our deepest condolences to the government and people of India”, the spokesman said condemning the attack. The two foreign secretaries are scheduled to discuss modalities and other schedule-related aspects to carry forward the dialogue process.
Parrikar visited the Pathankot Indian Air Force base in Punjab on Tuesday along with the chiefs of the army and air force.
Security forces combed the property looking for explosives, Parrikar said, and it didn’t appear any militants are left on the base.
Sporadic gunfire could be heard from inside the airbase, interspersed with grenade explosions, security officials said, but they seemed unsure of the situation inside, due to the multiplicity of forces involved.
The two prime ministers also showed a resolve to battle terrorism together through mutual cooperation, Radio Pakistan added.
Six terrorists have been neutralised so far in the combing operation. The operation, which stretched over three days, has been marred with command and control issues, but the defence minister defended the move to call in the elite National Security Guard.
Sources in the Indian Air Force (IAF) said that every inch of the Air Force Station (AFS) was being thoroughly scanned. The two countries have also jostled for influence in nearby Afghanistan, where militants attacked the Indian consulate in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Sunday. After that, the NSAs (of India and Pakistan) met in Bangkok. Security forces killed five terrorists.
An umbrella group of Kashmiri militants, the United Jihad Council, had claimed responsibility for the Saturday attack.
Questioning Narendra Modi’s NDA government’s “inconsistent” Pakistan policy, AAP on January 05, 2016 attacked the Narendra Modi-led dispensation over the Pathankot attack and asked why the government could not avert loss of soldiers’ lives when it had “pinpointed” information about the plot.
Advertisement
Indian media claimed that the future of Pakistan-India talks after the Pathankot airbase attack seems grim as Indian government has started considering postponing the talks.
