Indian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup on Thursday said the Indian government welcomes Pakistan’s special investigation team to probe the Pathankot air base attack and will cooperate with Pakistan in the inquiry.
“We look forward to the visit of the Pakistani special investigation team. We will extend it our full cooperation,” Swarup said.
Swarup also said the expected meeting between India and Pakistan’s foreign secretaries has been rescheduled to “some time in the near future”.
The spokesperson elaborated that the decision to reschedule the talks has been made mutually, and is not a unilateral decision by India. Responding to a question, Swarup stated that he does not have any information regarding the meeting of the national security advisers (NSA) prior to the foreign secretaries meeting.
“The foreign secretary spoke to his Pakistani counterpart and they agreed to reschedule talks in the near future.”
Swarup also stated that the NSAs of both nations have been in regular contact in recent days, when asked if the NSAs have spoken on the phone.
Answering another question, Swarup categorically denied that the foreign secretaries of the two nations have met in the past few days, following the attack on the Indian airbase.
“We have no information regarding arrest of Masood Azhar, however, we welcome the steps taken by the Pakistan government over Pathankot terror attack probe,” Vikas Swarup said.
“We are awaiting SIT’s visit to India in connection with Pathankot,” Vikas Swarup added. “We have no information regarding arrest of Masood Azhar, however, we welcome the steps taken by the Pakistan government over Pathankot terror attack probe,” Vikas Swarup said.
“We are awaiting SIT’s visit to India in connection with Pathankot,” Vikas Swarup added.
Also, the MEA spokesperson added that the Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks have been put on hold as of now with mutual consent of the two nations.
“The Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks will be rescheduled with mutual consent,” Vikas Swarup said.
Also, according to MEA, the NSAs of the two nations are in regular touch over the Pathankot attack probe.
Earlier, in the day, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah had said tha the FS-level talks for which Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar was to travel will not take place as planned.
Pakistan also did not confirm the arrest of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, media reports over which India has some reservations.
