NEW DELHI: Amid speculations over the cancellation of the scheduled Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks on January 15th, National Security Adviser Ajith Doval clarified that the meeting has not been cancelled and will go-ahead only after Pakistan takes action on the Pathankot terrorists.
“The ball is now in the Pakistan’s court. India will talk only if Pakistan takes action”, Doval Said.
Last week, spokesperson for the Union External Affairs Ministry issued a statement that the scheduled Indo-Pak bilateral ties will go-ahead only after the Pakistan government takes suitable action against the Pathankot terrorists. Following the statement, Pakistan’s Prime Minister had presided two emergency high-level meetings with his cabinet and security officials. However, there isn’t any development on the issue from the Pakistan’s side.
“India is not against the bilateral dialogue. But, the Pathankot incident has once again surfaced the issue of counter-terrorism. Thereby, we demand a swift action from the Pakistan Government against the terrorist organization behind the attack. It is up to them to decide the fate of the bilateral dialogue”, Vikas Swarup, Spokesperson for the Union External Affairs Ministry said.
As many as six terrorists have reportedly crossed the Indo-Pak border to carry out an attack over the Pathankot air-base. The security=personnel were successful in weeding out the terrorists from the air-base after conducting successive combing operations for more than three days. As per the official sources, Seven security personnel were killed during the counter-attack between the terrorists and the Indian force.
Terrorist organization United Jihad Council had claimed the responsibility for the attack.