Pathankot airbase attack: Pakistan tells India about some JeM arrests

NEW DELHI: The possibility of foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan remains on knife’s edge, with Pakistan updating India on Monday that it has carried out raids at many Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) locations and detained some of its functionaries for the Pathankot attacks while India has insisted that it wants JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar and his brother Abdul Rauf Ashgar to be arrested in the case.

India is said to have reteriated that it also expects Pakistan to crack down on JeM terror training camps and freeze its finances, sources in the government said. Reports from Pakistan indicated that India has been told that the mobile numbers of the alleged handlers provided are not registered with any operator. There was no confirmation of the same from the Indian side - but an official pointed out that these numbers and the recorded conversations is the biggest lead India has of JeM’s involvement in the attack and it can't be denied that calls were made to Pakistan using its country code.
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India has been told of some arrests/detentions being made in Pakistan after raids were carried out in Gujranwala, Jhelum and Bahawalpur districts and that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had formed a joint investigation team of various wings of security forces to probe the matter. This comes on a day when National Security Advisor Ajit Doval laid out the ground rules saying dates for the foreign secretary talks “will only be finalised” once Pakistan takes action on India’s evidence and also pointing out that India had never confirmed January 15 as the date for the discussions.

Sources said India is adamant on the arrest of Azhar and his brother Abdul Rauf Ashgar and believes that those arrested or detained by Pakistan so far might only be low-level JeM functionaries. “Pakistan has to walk the talk and arrest Maulana and Ashgar for this serious attack. We hope Pakistan will not offer dilatory excuses despite actionable intelligence being provided. We can only provide leads and Pakistan has to do the investigation on its soil that should lead it to JeM bosses. Pakistan should not be looking for clinching evidence from us,” a senior government official has told ET.

Another senior official said India is “cautious” about the arrests made by the Pakistani authorities and won’t react immediately. “The government will wait and watch on the further arrests made by Pak government,” the official said. It is felt here that while Nawaz Sharif is keen to take action against perpetrators to keep the engagement with India on track, the “deep state” within Pakistan may act otherwise and refuse to cooperate. The Pakistan PM is said to have taken army chief Gen Raheel Sharif on board about the decision to form the joint investigation team.

India has also handed over pictures of injections and syringes – made in Pakistan – that were used by the terrorists, along with details of a Pakistani brand of shoes used by them. Interpol has been approached to help ascertain the identity of the dead terrorists. However, security officials are skeptical that Pakistan will act.

“Even in the Gurdaspur attack, Interpol was approached but the identity of those terrorists could not be ascertained. Terrorists were then found wearing gloves made in Pakistan and GPS coordinates and US-produced night vision devices seized from them were collaborative evidence. But Pakistan did not act on it,” an official said.