Jaish’s offices sealed, Masood Azhar detained

Pathankot attack

Maulana Azhar’s brother among 13 followers also held; PM chairs high-level meeting attended by Gen Raheel and others; civil, military leadership decides to send probe team to India for more evidence

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday took dramatic action on the clues provided by India pertaining to the attack on the Pathankot airbase and detained the supremo of the banned Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Maulana Rauf Azhar and some of his followers and sealed the organisation’s offices. 

Pakistan is also considering dispatching a high-level team of investigators to India to ascertain the facts regarding the incident that caused the death of seven Indian personnel, including a colonel of the Indian Army, and four attackers. India had refused to allow such a team of investigators after the Mumbai attacks in 2008 but it is likely that New Delhi would give its consent this time.

The prime minister also constituted a team under Additional Inspector General (AIG), Punjab Police, Rai Tahir Hussain, to probe the evidence presented by India on the involvement of certain elements in Pakistan. The decision had been taken in a high-level meeting held at the Prime Minister’s House on Wednesday. The meeting was presided over by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and attended by the top civil and military leadership, including Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif.

Sources told The News that with the decisions taken during the meeting, it had been established that both countries were determined to work on improving bilateral ties and having a dialogue while ignoring the acts of terrorism committed on either side.

The meeting was also attended by Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar, Adviser to the PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Special Assistant to the PM on Foreign Affairs Syed Tariq Fatemi, National Security Adviser (NSA) Lieutenant General (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua, Lahore Corps Commander Lieutenant General Sadiq Ali, Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (DG ISI) Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar Malik, Director General Military Intelligence (DGMI) Major General Nadeem Zaki Manj, Director General Intelligence Bureau (DG IB) Afzal Sultan, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other senior officials.

It has officially been stated after the meeting that in the spirit of the cooperative approach, it was decided that in order to carry the process forward additional information would be required, for which the Government of Pakistan was considering sending a special investigation team to Pathankot, in consultation with the Government of India. The Prime Minister's House confirmed that several members of the JeM group had been arrested following initial investigation into the Pathankot airbase attack, together with the information provided by India.

The offices of JeM are also being traced and sealed and further investigations are underway. The developments were reported in the high-level meeting in which the current security situation came under discussion. The decisions were taken following initial investigation conducted in Pakistan on the basis of the report submitted by India. The meeting noted with satisfaction that as part of Pakistan’s commitment to eliminate terrorism from its soil and the expressed national resolve not to allow Pakistan's territory to be used for acts of terrorism anywhere, considerable progress had been made in the investigations being carried out against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident. The meeting reiterated that in line with the decision to counter and completely eliminate terrorism, Pakistan would remain engaged with India on this issue.

India earlier expressed confidence that Pakistan would deliver on its promise of investigating any alleged links to the Pathankot airbase attack, saying Islamabad should be given more time. Earlier, New Delhi shared with Islamabad some evidence of the Pathankot attackers’ purported links to Pakistan. The evidence was said to have included some voice recordings and cellular phone numbers of the attackers’ handlers which were allegedly traced to Pakistan. The reported arrests had been made two days before a scheduled meeting between the foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had earlier assured his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi that Islamabad would not hesitate to take “prompt and decisive action” if the involvement of Pakistan-based elements in the attack on the Indian airbase was proved beyond doubt. 

Later, a high-level meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and attended by General Raheel Sharif, reiterated Pakistan's commitment to cooperate with India on the Pathankot incident. The attack threatened to undermine the two countries' fragile peace process.

Ameen Abbasi adds from Bahawalpur: Thirteen activists and facilitators of the banned outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad have been arrested in the Bahawalpur district, confirmed personnel of security agencies on condition of anonymity on Wednesday. The news of the arrests was aired by news channels from Islamabad amid reports about sealing of Jaish-e-Muhammad office after a high-level meeting. The sources told The News that they were interrogated in connection with the terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase . However, till the filing of this news story, Jaish-i-Muhammad office in Bahawalpur was not sealed. Measures in this connection are under way, revealed the sources.

Jaish, headed by Maulana Masood Azhar, was banned several years ago. However, his seminary Madressa Usman Ali has been regularly functioning and expanded to a three-storeyed building along with a mosque. Close circles to Masood Azhar claimed that he had been visiting this seminary time and again and had led prayers there several times. His brother Maulana Rauf looks after the seminary affairs.

When contacted, DPO Sarfraz Ahmad Falki told the media that police were performing duties and rounded up suspects from time to time from the Bahawalpur district limits. He said the police had not so far rounded up any person of Jaish-e-Muhammad but added that there were so many other security agencies that might have taken into custody any of these persons.