Kerry urges Pakistan, India to continue talks despite Pathankot attack

US secretary of state calls Nawaz; expresses hope that talks between both countries will continue

ISLAMABAD: US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday urged Pakistan and India to continue talks despite the Pathankot attack.

According to PM House, Kerry called Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and expressed hope that the bilateral talks between Pakistan and Indian will continue despite the terrorists’ attempt to thwart it by attacking the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.

Urging prime ministers of both the countries to play the leadership role to ensure the continuation of dialogues, Kerry said India-Pakistan talks are needed for the regional stability. He also praised Nawaz’s leadership skills amid difficult times in the wake of recent Pathankot attack in India.

During the telephonic conversation, the premier told Kerry that Pakistan was carrying out investigations on the information provided by India in a transparent manner.



“World will see our effectiveness and sincerity in this regard. Pakistan is eliminating terrorism on its soil and will not allow anyone to use Pakistani soil to conduct terror operations abroad. All state institutions are fully committed for eliminating terrorism,” said Nawaz.

The prime minister also shared with Kerry that the law enforcement agencies have carried out investigation of the call data records of two telephone numbers which as alleged by India were used by terrorists, sources said.

Secretary Kerry extended full support and cooperation to the premier in finding out the real perpetrators behind the Pathankot attack.

According to the sources, in order to put pressure on Pakistan, Indian government had shared evidences with UK, US, France, Korea and Japan which it had provided to Pakistan.



They further claimed that Pakistani law enforcement agencies have detained some of the alleged facilitators of the attack from Sialkot and Bahawalpur for further probe.

Fate of the talks between the foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India, scheduled for January 15, was in danger of being scrapped after six militants stormed the IAF base in Pathankot on January 2.

However, commenting on the fate of the scheduled talks between Pakistan and India following the terror attack on Indian Air Force base in Pathankot , Aziz said on Saturday that Pakistan is investigating the incident while a planned meeting for the foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India was still in place.

Aziz said India has neither confirmed nor cancelled the talks, adding that the foreign secretaries of the two countries would meet on January 15.

Earlier on January 7, India had warned of calling off the upcoming foreign secretary talks in the wake of the Pathankot air base attack.

Without giving any deadline, Vikas Swarup, the Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson, said talks would be held only if Pakistan made good on its promise to “promptly and decisively” act on the evidence provided to Islamabad on the Pathankot attacker.