In a clear hint of the two countries holding the Foreign Secretary-level talks soon, India on Friday welcomed Pakistan’s move to file a case against an unnamed extremist group suspected of executing the January 2 attack on the Pathankot airbase.
Official sources told The Hindu that it was a “positive step towards investigation of the attack”.
India’s response came a day after the Pakistani police filed a case against a suspected terror group under the strict Anti Terrorism Act and the Pakistan Penal Code. “The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab Police has registered a case against the alleged attackers of Pathankot Airbase, India, and their alleged abettors belonging to a proscribed organisation in Police Station (CTD) Gujranwala, under the provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti Terrorism Act vide FIR No. 06/2016 u/s 302, 324, 109 PPC & 7, 21-I ATA 1997, dated 18-02-2016,” said a release from the CTD in Pakistan’s Punjab.
Immediately after the attack, India pointed the finger at the Jaish-e-Mohammed, which has its headquarters in Gujranwala, but did not receive a favourable response even after providing technical evidence of the involvement of members of this group. But the press release from Pakistan indicated that the police had filed the case against the terror group, though an official confirmation is expected.
The filing of the case under the Anti Terrorism Act has been interpreted by observers as a sign that the “actionable intelligence” given by India to Pakistan after the attack has begun to produce results.
“For some time we believed the leads provided by India were insufficient, but the application of the strict anti-terror law proves Pakistan has been able to move ahead on the leads it received from India or perhaps discovered on its own,” the former Pakistan High Commissioner to India, Ashraf Jahangir Qazi, told The Hindu .
The announcement came amid growing expectations that the Foreign Secretary-level talks, which were postponed after the attack, will be held soon.
While both sides maintained that the officials concerned were in touch with each other and a date would be announced soon, Pakistan on Thursday said it was in favour of not making the attack into an issue during the talks, which should be held “as early as possible.”
Veteran diplomats in India have also called the filing of the case a positive step.
Speaking to The Hindu , veteran diplomat K.C. Singh said Pakistani action was the “first positive step in the right direction.”
War of wordsReacting to a comment by Pakistan on a number of issues, including the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the ongoing student protests at the JNU, the government said that the developments in Jammu and Kashmir were “internal” to India. “Pakistan’s gratuitous references to Jammu and Kashmir are unacceptable”, said Vikas Swarup, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs.
