Pathankot base attack: Pakistan considers sending probe team to India

Several Jaish-e-Muhammad individuals detained and offices being sealed, civil-military huddle told


Abdul Manan January 13, 2016
PM Nawaz Sharif and COAS Raheel Sharif come to attend the high-level meeting on security situation. PHOTO: ONLINE

ISLAMABAD:


The government revealed on Wednesday that it has detained several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), a militant group blamed for a brazen assault on an Indian airbase, in a move that analysts believe could help salvage the fledgling normalisation process between the two neighbours.


Not only that, the government also considers sending a high-powered team to India to investigate the January 2 attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) Base in Pathankot that left seven soldiers dead. The decision was taken in a civil-military huddle chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at his office on Wednesday.

Pakistan Army has derailed peace process several times: Indian army chief

The United Jihad Council, an umbrella of Kashmiri militant groups, claimed responsibility for the attack, but New Delhi claims it was carried out by JeM, which is based in Pakistan. It also claims to have intercepted telephone communication between the attackers and their handlers in the Bahawalpur district of Punjab. The transcript of the phone calls was shared with Islamabad as evidence.

New Delhi had also blamed the JeM for a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament that brought the two countries to the brink of war.

According to a communiqué issued after the meeting, the civil-military huddle noted with satisfaction that as part of Pakistan’s commitment to eliminate terrorism from our soil and the expressed national resolve not to allow our territory to be used for acts of terrorism anywhere, considerable progress has been made in the investigations being carried out against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident.

The meeting reiterated that in line with our decision to counter and completely eliminate terrorism, Pakistan would remain engaged with India on this issue. The meeting was informed that several individuals belonging to the JeM have been detained. The group’s offices are also being traced and sealed.

Pathankot attack probe: India confident of Pakistan’s assistance

Attendees at Wednesday’s meeting included Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, army chief Gen Raheel Sharif, DG ISI Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, Lahore’s corps commander, IB’s director general, Punjab’ home minister and police chief, and other senior civil and military officials.

“IGP Punjab Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera told the meeting that the law enforcement agencies have sealed JeM’s headquarters in Bahawalpur,” a participant of the meeting told The Express Tribune. The newly built sprawling compound is strategically located on Karachi-Lahore-Peshawar Road that connects three provinces of the country.

Similarly, other offices of the JeM, particularly those in South Punjab, have also been sealed, and the Counter Terrorism Department of Punjab Police has launched a province-wide crackdown against the group’s members. The meeting was told that the JeM could carry out attacks in an effort to resurge as the group has been hibernating after it lost its appeal among the youth in the province, according to sources.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan told The Express Tribune that the JeM head honcho, Maulana Masood Azher, was already in custody and he would be interrogated for his group’s possible role in the IAF base attack. “Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba are Kashmir-based militant organisations and they don’t have any organised network in Punjab,” he said.

Pathankot assault: No reason to distrust Pakistan, says Indian home minister

Special Investigation Team

Premier Nawaz also constituted a Special Investigation Team which could visit Pathankot to probe the IAF base attack. “In the spirit of the cooperative approach, it was also decided that in order to carry the process forward, additional information would be required, for which the government of Pakistan is considering sending a SIT to Pathankot, in consultation with the government of India,” says the official communiqué.  The team will investigate the allegations of involvement of certain individuals in the IAF base attack.

Punjab Additional IG CTD Rai Tahir will be the convener of the six-member team which comprises K-P Additional IG CTD Salahuddin Khan, IB Director Azeem Arshad, FIA Punjab’s Director Dr Usman Anwar, Brigadier Nomal Saeed from ISI and Lt Col Irfan Mirza from MI.

About the mandate of the SIT, sources said the team would examine documentary evidence, visit the crime scene, study the modus operandi of the attackers and evaluate further evidence that India might provide on the Pathankot assault. Sources further said SIT’s investigation report would establish whether or not the JeM perpetrated the attack.

Pakistan to decide pace of Pathankot attack investigation: US

It is the first time Pakistan has suggested it could send a team to join the probe into the attack. In 2008, Islamabad turned down New Delhi’s demand it dispatch the ISI chief to India after militants carried out a series of attacks on landmarks across Mumbai that left 166 people dead.

Security analyst Talat Masood said the suggestion Pakistan could send a team shows Islamabad ‘wants to fully cooperate with India’.

The Pathankot attack came just a week after India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise stopover at Lahore while flying back home from Afghanistan to wish his counterpart on his birthday.


Published in The Express Tribune, January 14th, 2016.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ