India on Thursday agreed to reschedule Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan to the “near future”, linking it to “credible” progress in the Pathankot terror attack probe.
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The January 2 attack on the base in Pathankot was followed by a raid on an Indian consulate in Afghanistan that has also been linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad.
India likely to take a decision on whether to go ahead with the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan tomorrow. The announcement to reschedule the talks came from Islamabad and hours later New Delhi gave a strong indication of pulling the dialogue process “back on track”.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and his counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary spoke to each other on Thursday, when it was agreed that their meeting would be rescheduled. It was not clear if Masood Azhar was among the arrested or had been merely detained for questioning.
“Both countries are in touch and new dates for the talks would be finalised soon”, Aziz said at a breakfast meeting here with Chinese scholars, diplomats as well as journalists.
“We note the apprehension of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists”.
Interestingly, India is still awaiting an official confirmation from Pakistan on the detention of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar.
Azhar, was named by India as the mastermind of the Pathankot airbase attack.
India welcomed the arrest of suspected militants of an Islamist organisation in Pakistan. But Indian government gave a a very meticulous reply, saying “no official reports” from Pakistan.
Pakistan has promised India of tough action against anyone found guilty of involvement in the Pathankot attack. “The government welcomes the proposed visit of Pakistani probe team and Indian investigative agencies will provide it all possible help”, Vikas Swarup said.
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Mohammad Zubair, a minister in the Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan, told an Indian TV channel that he can not confirm the arrest of Azhar while Lt General (Retired) Abdul Qadir Baloch, minister for frontier regions, said that “Azhar was arrested”.
