The twin terror attacks on Pathankot air base and Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan have extinguished all hopes of resumption of the comprehensive bilateral dialogue that Indian foreign secretary S Jaishankar was scheduled to do on 14 January in Islamabad.
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Intelligence sources said the terrorists used the route often used by drug smugglers to infiltrate into the border state of Punjab and unleash the deadly attack on an IAF base.
Lauding the valour efforts of the security personnel who sacrificed their lives defending the Pathankot air base, Jaitley said the main aim of the well-trained terrorists was to harm strategic assets.
Indian security forces were still trying to clear militants holed up in a building that served as living quarters for air force personnel, army Brig.
The sprawling Pathankot air force base is spread over more than 2,000 acres, including some forested sections with very tall grass.
“We condemn this attack…At this juncture this attack might have been launched intentionally to disrupt this momentum (in Indo-Pak ties)”. A Pakistani SIM card and a Maruti Swift auto were also seized.
Pakistan has condemned the attack and said it wanted to continue to build on the goodwill created by the impromptu meeting between Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif last month.
As the operation against the terrorists entered the third day, NSG, IAF and Army officers said there was no collateral damage to the strategic Air Force assets.
In a TV briefing from Pathankot, Air Commodore J.S. Dhamoon said the attackers had burst into a guards’ mess at the air base, where they were preparing breakfast on Saturday morning.
The Indian government official earlier said security forces had killed four of the attackers, adding that one was believed holed up in the facility.
Since Saturday morning, the base has been swarming with air force commandos, troops from India’s elite National Security Guard and local police. Combing and search operations are going on.
However, a senior federal government official said two terrorists who were hiding in the administrative block of the base had been killed on Sunday, but authorities had yet to recover the bodies. Officials, however, have refused to say how many security personnel in all were involved in the fighting and operations to secure the base.
India, however, is likely to take up the issue with Pakistan during the foreign secretary level talks on 15 January.
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The meet was followed by the security advisers of Pakistan and India meeting in Bangkok a week later following which the India’s External Affairs minister visited Pakistan to attend the Heart of Asia conference during which the two sides announced the resumption of talks. This is the dilemma for the Modi government as it weighs its options to go back to its old hardliner stance vis a vis Pakistan with mounting pressure from the opposition.
