The party has questioned why Modi had not, despite overwhelming evidence, stated the terrorists that carried out the attack were from Pakistan.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over the phone late Saturday and expressed the hope that Pakistan and India will continue talks despite the recent attack on an Indian airbase.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif has said that no terrorist group will be allowed to derail the dialogue process with India.
Sources in the government informed that both leaders also had a word on recent escalation in tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia and both of them were of the view that the issue should be resolved through negotiations.
Aziz told reporters in Lahore that the two countries had agreed to hold talks on January 15.
The second round may take place towards the end of the month if the four nations agreed on the minimum agenda, the official said.
“The NSA lauded the most effective and commendable Punjab response to a most hard challenge thrown at the country by terrorists at Pathankot”, a Punjab government spokesman, quoting Doval’s conversation with Badal, said here.
A senior state department official said Pakistan should not come out with lame excuses to shield them as has been the case with the Mumbai terrorist attack.
India’s foreign ministry said Islamabad has been given actionable intelligence that those who planned the assault came from Pakistan.
“We are investigating the Pathankot incident”, was Aziz’s answer when he was asked by a reporter in this regard.
He acknowledged that the United States has reached out to Pakistan after the Pathankot terror attack.
Besides taking stock of the ground situation of the Pathankot airbase during his 90-minute-long stay, the PM also took detailed briefing from Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and NSG officials about the attack and counter-offensive launched by the security forces.
Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership has condemned the Pathankot attack, for the first time, following a terror strike in India and also promised full cooperation with New Delhi, in eradicating the menace of terrorism from the region, a denunciation that would be reassuring for South Block.
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Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, National Security Adviser Lt-Gen (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar attended the meeting.
