Pathankot attack: NSA Ajit​ Doval to secretly meet Nasser Khan Janjua in third country?

Delhi: Even as there is no finality on the proposed talks between India and Pakistan on January 15, a media report suggested on Monday that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval may secretly meet his counterpart Nasser Khan Janjua in a third country in the next few days.

As per a report in NDTV, Pakistan appears to be sending mixed signals to India regarding what action it was willing to take as far as Pathankot airbase terror attack was concerned. 

The website quoted sources as saying that Pakistani officials have said that phone numbers of six attackers called in the hours before opening fire at Pathankot are not registered in their country.

The report further quoted sources as saying that to iron out things and to forge a plan on how to tackle the investigation, Doval may meet Janjua soon.

India has given enough indications that talks between the Foreign Secretaries of both countries would not go ahead unless Pakistan takes firm action against those responsible for the terror attack in Punjab. 

Meanwhile, Pakistani law enforcement agencies today picked up 'some suspects' connected to Pathankot attack from Bahwalapur district, the hometown of Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Pakistani news channel ARY News reported today that "some arrests" have been made in this regard but police did not confirm any arrest related to the Pathankot attack, as per PTI.

"The intelligence agencies have picked up some suspects from Bahawalpur on the leads provided by India in Pathankot airbase attack and shifted them to undisclosed location for interrogation," the news channel reported.

Regional Police Officer (RPO Bahawalpur) Ahsan Saddique said that he was not aware of any arrest in connection with the Pathankot attack.

"I am not aware about any arrests related to the Pathankot incident," he added.

In Islamabad, intelligence officials claimed 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.

Nudged by the US to expeditiously act against the perpetrators of the Pathankot terror attack, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered formation of a high-profile joint investigation team (JIT) to investigate the links of the attackers with Pakistan, The Express Tribune reported.

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 paper said.

(With Agency inputs)