By Ankit Panda
The two sides delay scheduled talks as India waits to see Pakistan’s resolve in acting against Jaish-e-Mohammed.
India and Pakistan have mutually decided to postpone their foreign secretary-level talks, which were originally scheduled for January 15. The decision to do so is the latest in a chain of events following a militant attack against the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot. The Pathankot incident was suspected of having been planned and perpetrated by militants fighting for Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), a Pakistan-based terror group led by Masood Azhar. The postponement of the scheduled diplomatic talks does not represent a collapse of the diplomatic rapprochement between India and Pakistan that began with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise stopover in Lahore, Pakistan on December 25, 2015.
Critically, the decision to postpone talks comes after Pakistan took the step of acting on intelligence provided to it by India in the wake of the Pathankot attack and arrested a range of JeM operatives. Though yet to be officially confirmed by Pakistan, Masood Azhar, JeM’s leader, has reportedly been taken into protective custody by Pakistani authorities. Vikas Swarup, spokesman for the Indian foreign ministry, said that New Delhi had not “received official word on detention of Masood Azhar.” Late Thursday evening, Rana Sanaullah, Pakistani Punjab’s law minister, confirmed that Azhar was in “protective custody,” but would only face legal proceedings if his involvement in the Pathankot attacks could be proven beyond a doubt.
Azhar’s detention, if confirmed, would be an encouraging development that the Pakistani civilian government, led by Nawaz Sharif, is increasingly able to set the terms for how the country reacts to Indian demands. JeM was almost certainly the organization behind the attacks at Pathankot, and may have even played a role in planning an attack that same week on India’s consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan. Reports suggest that Azhar’s location is being kept secret for the moment amid concerns that JeM fighters could attempt to free him.
Read the full story at The Diplomat