Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Tuesday to take “firm and immediate action” against those behind an attack on an Indian Air Force base that left seven soldiers dead.
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If photographs of Modi and Sharif walking hand-in-hand while grinning had caused undue optimism about the prospects for peace between India and Pakistan in the new year, the attack at Pathankot should restore a degree of sobriety to expectations.
An Indian official says six gunmen who attacked an air force base near the country’s border with Pakistan have been killed, and that an operation is under way to secure the compound.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi chaired a meeting of the National Security Council on Monday to discuss the attacks on the Pathankot air base and the Indian Consulate in Afghanistan’s Mazar-e-Sharif (on Sunday).
The information and leads, like the Pakistani numbers which the attackers had called and their intercepts, are understood to have been passed on by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come under sharp attack from opposition parties for his “extra mile walk” in offering a hand of friendship to Nawaz Sharif.
The US has said it expects Pakistan to act in bringing to justice the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack and asked Islamabad to live up to its pledge that it will not “discriminate” among terror groups.
Sharif further assured that their government was working on the leads and information provided by the Indian Government on the Pathankot attack, adding that they would investigate the matter.
Analysts expressed worry at how the militants likely crossed into India: from a vulnerable area along the Pakistani border that that is commonly used by drug smugglers.
Pathankot is home to a fleet of MiG-21 fighter jets and Mi-25 and Mi-35 attack helicopters, along with other military hardware.
There was no gunfire as troops searched the air base on the fourth day of the siege looking for a possible sixth gunman involved in the attack. Security forces killed five terrorists.
Prime Minister Nawaz is on an official visit of Sri Lanka from where he called the Indian PM.
During the Pathankot operation around seven Indian jawans were martyred and more than 20 were injured. While it can choose to impose economic costs on Pakistan, doing so will do little to condition those elements in the Pakistani military that would see peace talks forestalled until India is ready to make key concessions on Kashmir. He said it would be premature to comment as the operation was still going on. India had agreed to resume the composite dialogue process in the belief that the Pakistan Army chief Raheel Sharif was on board the dialogue process.
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“We have been clear with the highest levels of the government of Pakistan that it must continue to target all militant groups”, he said.
