A day after Sartaz Aziz, foreign policy advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said the Pakistani Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Pathankot terror attack may visit India in the next few days, Indian officials said they are awaiting concrete details from Islamabad. India has also asked Pakistan to inform it at least five days in advance about the visit of its team.
“There are no dates given to us as of now. We are awaiting details of dates of the SIT visit and the composition of the team,” External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said on Thursday responding to Aziz’s statement.
It is expected that the Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan may meet on the sidelines of the SAARC officials’ meeting in Kathmandu on March 15 and discuss further course of action in this regard. However, MEA officials did not elaborate whether this meeting can take in the form of a structured talk between the two FS. Similarly, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj too is expected to meet her Pakistani counterpart in Kathmandu on the sidelines of the SAARC Ministerial conference on March 16-17.
Meanwhile, India is hoping to get more support and less of Opposition from member countries once the United Nations Security Council committee on terrorism decides on New Delhi’s request to include Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar among the list of UN designated terrorists linked to Al-Qaeeda.
India’s attempt to bring lashkar-e-Taiyyeba terrorist Zakiur-Rehman lakhvi, Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and United Jihad Council and Hijbul Mujaheedin leader Syed Salauddin in the list of banned individuals was blocked by China in the past.
JeM is already a banned outfit by UN. India has approached UN to ban Azhar in the wake of terror attack on the Pathankot airbase saying there was an urgency of curbing activities of JeM leader Azhar and if only half measures are taken then the countries will continue to suffer from terrorism.
Meanwhile, the Government has said Pakistan must fulfill its repeated assurances of not allowing its soil for “aiding and abetting” terrorism directed against India and asserted that it was committed to work towards a normal relationship with the neighbour.
Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh said it was conveyed to Pakistan at the highest level after the Pathankot attack that it must take firm and immediate action against organisations and individuals responsible for and linked to the strike.
“The Government is committed to working towards a normal relationship with Pakistan by addressing all outstanding issues through bilateral peaceful dialogue,” he said.
At the same time, he said it has been reiterated to Pakistan that “it needs to fulfill its repeated assurances including at the highest level to not allow its territory or areas under its control for aiding and abetting terrorism directed against India”.