On Monday, reports said that Pakistani law enforcement agencies have picked up “some suspects” connected to Pathankot attack from Bahwalapur district, the hometown of Maulana Masood Azhar. While the talks are unlikely to happen on January 15 as desired by Pakistan, India is not for calling off the process of engagement as yet and would like to use the talks as leverage for securing Islamabad’s cooperation.
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Speaking to a Pakistani news channel, Musharraf said that both India and Pakistan were victims of extremists and accused the New Delhi government of putting pressure on Islamabad over terrorism. The pre-dawn attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) station killed seven security personnel.
The Indo-Pak relations seemed to have been on an upward trend since the meeting, making way for Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Pakistan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise stopover in Lahore to meet Sharif on his birthday.
The minister said “there is no reason to distrust them [Pakistan] so early” as the Pakistan government has given its word and assured India that it would take effective actions against the culprits. “The entire world is aware of the fact from where the terrorists came and attacked the Pathankot airbase”, he told media here.
“Pakistan’s global legal obligations require it to follow up on these leads to determine whether or not some elements based in Pakistan were involved in the attack”, the former diplomat said.
“He also discussed the issue with army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and took him on board about the decision to form a JIT”, the source added.
“India should postpone the talks with Pakistan. We would not allow anyone to use our soil to carry out terror operations overseas”, the Pakistan PM said. Janjua is likely to give a detailed update on the investigation on the leads provided by India, while Doval may share additional information from what more has emerged out of the Pathankot probe until now.
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last week about the need for continuing dialogue in general terms, according to the State Department spokesperson.
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“Is the government satisfied by Pakistan’s actions on the actionable evidences?”
