Pathankot attack: Pakistan acts on India 'leads', arrests some suspects

[INDIAPOSITIVE]

Pakistani authorities carried out raids at different places following attack on the Pathankot airbase in India, leading to some arrests, intelligence officials said on Monday.

They said that raids were carried out in Gujranwala, Jhelum and Bahawalpur districts and an unspecified number of people were arrested.

"Probe has been going to ascertain if they were involved in the attack or some of them facilitated it," they said.
The arrests led Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to order a joint investigation team of Intelligence Bureau(IB), Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence, Federal Investigation Agency and police to thoroughly probe the Pathankot attack links to Pakistan.

Sharif has already said that a transparent investigation will be made and those involved will not be spared.

Sharif's decision to form the JIT came after the leads provided by India which has linked the foreign secretary-level talks, scheduled for January 15, to Islamabad's decisive action on the Pathankot terror attack.

The foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan won't happen if Pakistan does not act against the Pathankot attack masterminds, national security adviser Ajit Doval said on Monday.

The decision to form the JIT, comprising officials from Intelligence Bureau (IB), Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI), was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Sharif recently, the Express Tribune 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.

Prime Minister Sharif "is taking an active role in getting to the bottom of the Pathankot incident," a Prime Minister's House source was quoted as saying by the paper.

"He also discussed the issue with army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and took him on board about the decision to form a JIT," the source added.

"This investigation will be a major test of the prime minister to move Pakistan-India relationship forward and to break the cycle of off-again on-again talks between the two neighbours," the source added.

In a pre-dawn attack on January 2, a group of heavily armed Pakistani terrorists, suspected to be belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, struck at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.

Indian intelligence reports suggested that groups and people in Pakistan planned and executed the strike.

India has provided "specific and actionable information in this regard" to Pakistan.

The evidence is said to include some voice recordings and the cellular phone numbers of the attackers' handlers which were traced to Pakistan.


Pathankot attack: Pakistan acts on India 'leads', arrests some suspects - Times of India

 

[PARIKRAMA]

I told you all about the script

-GOP would make arrests (do not ask who and what rank they are in terror structure of the Jihadis)
-USA would applaud (Expect Kerry saying We convinced Pakistan to deliver and Obama calling NS and saying good work)
-India NaMo and whole BJP would push media overdrive and say first time we have made GOP act bcz of our concentrated efforts for peace talks and hard stance asking for delivery of justice against those who planned Pathankot.. Some thing Congress failed to do so for 60+ years
-Indian Media overdrive would see a environment made for necessity of talks as GOP has acted
- FS talks on schedule and NSA talks later
- Everybody is happy (GOP, GOI, USA, and the Jihadis)

Pls say i am wrong here !!

 

[Sam.]

Some people will still deny those places in Pakistan.

 

[Brahmaputra Mail]

Lahore High Court will free them. I've noticed this pattern before. Most of the anti-India terrorism related cases were dismissed by Lahore High Court, including release of Hafiz Saeed and Zakir-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

 

[Politico]

indians..damned if u do and damned if u dont. no satisfying them no matter what we do

 

[GreenApple]

..not very optimist about the effectiveness , transparency and 'soul' of these arrests.
..but this nails the pakitani's claim that pakistan was not involved
..little victory for India, but India MUST act in other options NOW..

 

[Areesh]

I told you all about the script

-GOP would make arrests (do not ask who and what rank they are in terror structure of the Jihadis)
-USA would applaud (Expect Kerry saying We convinced Pakistan to deliver and Obama calling NS and saying good work)
-India NaMo and whole BJP would push media overdrive and say first time we have made GOP act bcz of our concentrated efforts for peace talks and hard stance asking for delivery of justice against those who planned Pathankot.. Some thing Congress failed to do so for 60+ years
-Indian Media overdrive would see a environment made for necessity of talks as GOP has acted
- FS talks on schedule and NSA talks later
- Everybody is happy (GOP, GOI, USA, and the Jihadis)

Pls say i am wrong here !!

A little change. People arrested might be some random charsis and not even jihadis.

Rest you are very much true. Good to see a first Indian who is not delusional and lives in reality.

 

[Counterpunch]

Pakistan has completed the initial probe and the cellphone numbers provided (the major evidence) have been stated to be 'not-registered' in Pakistan. Some one has probably tried to frame Pakistan

Moreover, Ajit Doval denied having linked the Foreign Secretary talks with strict action taken by Pakistan against terrorists

So this very much shows responsible behavior from both the states who do realize significance of peace in the region and the impacts of their actions on generations to come

In addition to this, Pakistan's prompt response and willingness to support India only shows its seriousness in getting the situation resolved and its eagerness in winning back the momentum that was generated through recent Foreign Secretary level meetings

Link to the completion of initial probe result is below
Pakistan completes initial Pathankot attack probe | Pakistan | thenews.com.pk

 

[joekrish]

At least a start.

 

[xyxmt]

I told you all about the script

-GOP would make arrests (do not ask who and what rank they are in terror structure of the Jihadis)
-USA would applaud (Expect Kerry saying We convinced Pakistan to deliver and Obama calling NS and saying good work)
-India NaMo and whole BJP would push media overdrive and say first time we have made GOP act bcz of our concentrated efforts for peace talks and hard stance asking for delivery of justice against those who planned Pathankot.. Some thing Congress failed to do so for 60+ years
-Indian Media overdrive would see a environment made for necessity of talks as GOP has acted
- FS talks on schedule and NSA talks later
- Everybody is happy (GOP, GOI, USA, and the Jihadis)

Pls say i am wrong here !!

you are wrong, same happened after 26/11
Pakistan arrested Hafiz and Lakhvi at first
asked India to provide proofs, Indian response was "because we say so"
Pakistan's response "yeh lo tum"
same will happen here, unless Indians have learned a lesson from the past and dont try to act big.

 

[sparten]

Lahore High Court will free them. I've noticed this pattern before. Most of the anti-India terrorism related cases were dismissed by Lahore High Court, including release of Hafiz Saeed and Zakir-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

Because unlike some other countries I could mention, we actually require that an arrested person be charged and convicted of an offense, not just held on someone's say so. The Indians provided nothing which linked Hafiz Saeed and others to actual criminal acts, it was simply "he is bad cause we said so".

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Lahore High Court will free them. I've noticed this pattern before. Most of the anti-India terrorism related cases were dismissed by Lahore High Court, including release of Hafiz Saeed and Zakir-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

That's the case with most high profile terrorism/criminal cases, India or non-India related. The justice. prosecution and police system is weak. Judges, prosecutors and key witnesses have been threatened and/or killed many times in the past. The killing of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leadership in 'police encounters' was almost considered necessary because these guys kept killing key individuals involved in the court cases against them with the result that the cases kept collapsing.

Legislation is required for strong witness protection programs, whose effectiveness will in turn still be dependent upon reforms in the law enforcement institutions responsible for witness protection. Just because these cases involve 'anti-India terrorism' doesn't mean the Pakistani justice and prosecution system is going to miraculously start performing.