Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday visited the Pathankot air base, the target of last Saturday’s brazen terror attack, for a review of the situation and voiced satisfaction over the counteroffensive mounted by the security forces to eliminate the perpetrators.
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The meeting was attended by Ishaq Dar, minister for finance; Nisar Ali Khan, minister for interior; Sartaj Aziz, adviser on foreign affairs; Lt Gen (Retd) Nasser Khan Janjua, National Security Adviser; Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, foreign secretary; Aftab Sultan, chief of Intelligence Bureau and other officials.
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. “At this juncture, this attack might be launched intentionally to disrupt this momentum”, said Hua, adding that China hoped “India and Pakistan work together to maintain positive momentum”.
In New Delhi, government officials said Pakistan had not yet formally communicated any action taken on the leads provided by India into the Pathankot attack. Their meeting convinced India that, it was the right time to not just seek engagement with Pakistan over terror, but also agree to Islamabad’s demand that, the composite dialogue process be resumed.
Six terrorists, who had sneaked into the country from Indo-Pak border in Pakistan, had attacked Indian Air Force base in Pathankot during the intervening night of January 1 and 2. They struck at the Defence Security Corps’ (DSC) mess at the base, taking the security forces unawares, and survived on food stored in the mess.
The Indian defense minister said earlier this week that security forces had managed to “neutralize all six attackers”.
After inspecting the site, Modi, for his part, said he had been briefed “in great detail” as to how the security forces had “neutralized a serious terrorist attack”.
India has passed to Pakistan the telephone numbers that the gunmen are believed to have used to contact their “handlers” and asked the authorities in Islamabad to arrest them. To another question, he said Pakistan was probing the leads on Pathankot attack.
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“The people of Pakistan have resolved that, no terrorist would be allowed to use Pakistan’s soil for committing terrorism”, the statement further said.
