Prime Minister Narendra Modi today visited the strategically important IAF base here and reviewed the situation with the Air Force chief and other top officials in the aftermath of last Saturday’s brazen attack by suspected Pakistani terrorists.
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Secretary Kerry extended full support and cooperation to the prime minister in finding out the truth on the Pathankot terror incident.
At a second high-level meeting on Friday, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reiterated his country’s commitment to cooperate with India on investigating the attack.
Sharif told Kerry that Pakistan is swiftly carrying out investigations.
Amid tensions over the Pathankot attack probe, Pakistan Prime Minister has asserted that the world will see Islamabad’s “sincerity and effectiveness” in reaching concrete conclusions on the terror strike. Nawaz Sharif reportedly told Kerry that Pakistan would not allow anyone to use its soil to carry out terror operations overseas. Seven security personnel also lost their lives.
The United States on Saturday said that continuation of India-Pakistan peace talks is in the best interest of the regional stability, Radio Pakistan reported.
“The Pakistanis (had) said they’re going to investigate, so we look forward to seeing the results of that investigation”, he said.
“The schedule for secretary level talks was intact as of now and talks have not been cancelled”, Aziz said.
The official’s comments provided an insight into Pakistan’s planned response to India, which had shared what was described as “leads” and “actionable intelligence”, with Pakistani authorities.
Earlier in the week, an alliance of Kashmiri militant groups had claimed the deadly attack on the Indian Air Force’s Pathankot 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.
“If everything goes on as per decided programme, the secretaries would meet in Islamabad on January 15”, he said.
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.
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The Indian government, however, has blamed the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militant outfit for the assault.
