AGENCY
Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today chaired a high-level meeting and discussed the Pathankot terror attack as he directed officials to speed up work on the leads given by India, sources said.
“Issues pertaining to national and regional security were discussed during the meeting,” the Prime Minister’s Office here said in a brief statement.
The meeting was attended by Ishaq Dar, Minister for Finance; Nisar Ali Khan, Minister for Interior; Sartaj Aziz, Advisor on Foreign Affairs; Lt Gen (Retd) Nasser Khan Janjua, National Security Advisor; Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Foreign Secretary; Aftab Sultan, Chief of Intelligence Bureau and other officials.
A source privy to the details said that the meeting discussed the Pathankot attack and the information shared so far by India.
“The meeting decided to speed up work on the leads given by India,” he said on anonymity.
Another official said that the information provided by India was not enough as it was just limited to telephone numbers and Pakistan might ask for additional information.
“We would like to have solid information to build a case for action otherwise Courts intervene and the suspects are bailed out,” he said.
He added the meeting agreed that strong action would be taken after probe against anyone found guilty of involvement in the attack.
The meeting came as India said it is waiting for “prompt and decisive action” as promised by Sharif to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a telephone call on Tuesday.
India has provided “specific and actionable information in this regard” to Pakistan.
Yesterday, Pakistan’s Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif reaffirmed zero tolerance for terrorist organisations and took a detailed review of overall internal and external security situation in the country.
He made the remarks while presiding over the Corps Commander Conference held at General Headquarters, a statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
In a pre-dawn attack on 2nd January, a group of heavily- armed Pakistani terrorists, suspected to be belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, struck at the Air Force Base in Punjab.
Meanwhile, China on Thursday said it hopes that India and Pakistan will “properly deal” with their differences through dialogue and “maintain momentum” in improving ties, days after Beijing asserted that the Pathankot attack may have been launched intentionally to disrupt Indo-Pak relations.
“Chinese side welcomes all the actions that are conducive to improvement of relations between Pakistan and India,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here.
“We also support counter terrorism cooperation between the (two) countries,” she said in reply to a question about Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif’s promise to take “prompt and decisive action” against the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack during his telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week.
In its first reaction to the attack, China, which has “all-weather” ties with Pakistan, had condemned the assault and stated that it may be an attempt to disrupt the positive momentum in Indo-Pak ties following Modi’s visit to Lahore.
A high-level Chinese team of Interior Ministry officials is expected to visit India in the next few months to formally sign an agreement to operationalise the committees. The draft agreement detailing the composition of the two committees is ready, Indian officials have said.
