Islamabad: Pakistan on Wednesday reportedly detained Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar, the terror group suspected to have engineered the Pathankot Air Force base earlier this month, in which seven military personnel were martyred.
Azhar and four of his top aides, including his brother Rehman Rauf, have been taken into preventive custody in Islamabad and questioning is underway in connection with Pathankot terror attack.
“Maulana Masood Azhar and Mufti Abdul Rauf have been taken into protective custody in connection with the attack on Pathankot airbase. They have been shifted to a safe place for interrogations,” a senior government official said.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan detained "several individuals" belonging to JeM and sealed its offices after India linked Islamabad's "prompt and decisive" action to the fate of Foreign Secretary-level talks scheduled on Friday.
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However, India said they have no official confirmation on arrest of Masood Azhar and decision on Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan will be taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj.
A high-level meeting, attended by army chief Raheel Sharif, was held here to discuss the progress into the Pathankot investigations. The PM was briefed that several offices of the JeM had been shut and members were arrested for interrogation.
A PM’s house spokesman said in a statement that Pakistan was now mulling to send a special team to India to obtain additional information from the scene of the attack.
The offices have been sealed in Bahwalnagar, Bahawalpur, Multan and Muzafargarh cities and the suspected members of the group were also held, top officials briefed Sharif.
Others who attended the meeting included by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, National Security Advisor retired Nasir Khan Janjua, Personal Assistant to Prime Minister Tariq Fatemi, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and intelligence chiefs.
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“The meeting was told that progress has been made in the investigations in the Pathankot incident. It was told that some members of banned Jaish-e-Mohammed have initially been arrested in connection with Pathankot incident in India,” the statement said.
The meeting was informed that offices of the banned organization are being searched and sealed. Further investigations in connection with Pathankot incident is going on.
“The meeting expressed satisfaction on the steps taken so far to eliminate terrorism. The meeting expressed its resolve that Pakistan will not allow its soil to be used for terrorism activities,” it said.
News of the arrests comes 48 hours before a rare meeting between the foreign secretaries of two countries is scheduled to take place. Pakistan has promised it would get to the bottom of who was behind the assault on the air base after India handed over evidence to Pakistan that it said implicated Jaish-e-Mohammad in the January 2 attack, in which seven military personnel were killed.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said it would decide later whether Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar would travel to Islamabad on Friday.
Terrorists belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad, headed by Maulana Masood Azhar of Kandahar hijack episode, are believed to be behind the Pathankot terror attack in which seven security personnel were killed.
Last week India put the ball squarely in Pakistan's court, linking the FS-level talks to Islamabad's "prompt and decisive" action in the Pathankot terror attack for which it has provided "actionable intelligence".
An official said that close to a dozen militants have been held so far and were being questioned. He refused to give further information like where they have been held or when they could be produced before any court.
In the terror attack on Pathankot Air Force base that began on January 2, six militants were also eliminated in an operation that lasted four days.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh said Tuesday that India had “no reason to distrust” Pakistan’s assurances that it will take effective action on the inputs given by India about the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack. “The Pakistan government has said it will take effective action. I think we should wait,” Mr Singh said. The foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan that were due to be held from Friday are all set to be somewhat delayed.
The home minister told reporters that since the Pakistan government had given an assurance to India, “there is no reason to distrust (avishvaas) them (Pakistan) so early”.
