Bruce Riedel, who worked in the National Security Council of the White House and was among the few present at the Bill Clinton-Nawaz Sharif meeting in 1999 during Kargil war, said the attack is created to prevent any detente between India and Pakistan after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise Christmas Day visit to Pakistan.
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Modi received a call this afternoon from Sharif regarding the terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase, the office said.
Mr Sharif promised Pakistan would take “prompt and decisive action against the terrorists”, Indian officials said.
NEW DELHI, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Indian security forces have killed six militants who launched an assault on a military air base in northern India that killed seven security personnel and injured 22, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Tuesday.
Indian Prime Minister Modi urged his Pakistani counterpart to take “firm and immediate action” against those behind the attack.
Five of the gunmen were killed and Indian officials said an unidentified body found at the base was suspected to be of a sixth militant. Three days of heavy gunfire followed as Indian troops battled the gunmen.
“Foreign Secretary-level talks should be immediately abrogated”.
“Pakistan must cooperate in nabbing the planners if they’re proven to be in Pakistan”, Islamabad-based Marvi Sirmed wrote in The Nation newspaper.
It was when the stage was being set for the foreign secretaries to meet this month in Islamabad that the terrorists mounted the attack on the IAF base at Pathankot.
Asked about the Pakistani connection, he said there are indications that some of the materials used by the terrorists were made in Pakistan.
He added: “And we continue to engage with the government of Pakistan to that end”.
On Monday, operations to “eliminate” two remaining militants were “possibly…in the final stages”, a National Security Guard official said at a press conference at the facility, near the border with Pakistan.
On the other hand, Pakistan said that they are working on the leads that have been provided by India on the terrorist attack.
The Indian government has desisted from officially blaming Pakistan for the Pathankot attack, something which Mr Sharif appreciated in his conversation with Mr Modi.
“The Pakistani government, the Pakistani people very much understand the threat here”.
Rebels in India’s portion of Kashmir have been fighting since 1989 for independence or merger with Pakistan.
Pathankot houses dozens of jet fighters and is located just 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Pakistan border.
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A foreign ministry statement said that “living in the same region and with a common history, the two countries should remain committed to a sustained dialogue process”.
