Pakistan decides to round up ‘non-state actors’

• Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother and close aides taken into custody as Pakistan gets serious about Pathankot
• JIT consisting of top counter-terror officials constituted to probe Pathankot incident
• Both countries silently working to keep talk on track, delay likely in NSA-level meeting

In a major development, security agencies have taken into custody banned Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Maulana Abdul Rauf, along with around a dozen fellow activists and have moved them to an undisclosed location for investigating their alleged role in the terror attack on Indian air force base in Pathankot, Pakistan Today has learnt on good authority.

A well-placed source told Pakistan Today that the government had acted on the leads provided by India along with some material passed to it by the United States of America.

“Significant progress has been made into the matter. But we can’t share the details as yet as we need further assistance from India in this regard,” the source said, adding that the suspected jihadi fighters had been taken into custody around four days back and were being interrogated for any role in the attack.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday Pakistan setup a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) which consists of security and military officials to look into Pakistani individuals or organisations involved in the Pathankot attack.

The JIT is being led by Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab Additional IG Rai Tahir and will include Intelligence Bureau (IB) Lahore Director Azeem Arshad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CTD Additional Inspector General Salahuddin Khan, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Punjab Director Dr Usman Anwar, Inter-Services Intelligence’s Brigadier Noman Saeed and Military Intelligence’s (MI) Lt Col Irfan Mirza.

The composition of the team is also unprecedented as the lead role has been given to the civilian security agencies while ISI and MI have taken a supporting role in this investigation.

Previously all such investigations were spearheaded by the ISI.

SECRETARY-LEVEL TALKS POSTPONEMENT LIKELY:

Meanwhile, the formal foreign secretary-level dialogue between Pakistan and India is likely to be postponed.

“Pakistan and India are working silently to keep the dialogue on track. But since only a day is left for secretary level talks, the meeting might be postponed for a few days,” a source in the Foreign Office told Pakistan Today.

The source added that a proposal is under consideration for a meeting of the National Security Advisers of the two countries.

“If both the countries agree, the national security advisers might meet. In such a case, NSA Gen (r) Nasser Janjua might leave for India,” the source added.

India has already linked the dialogue process with progress on the probe into Pathankot attack.

TOP HUDDLE REVIEWS PROGRESS:

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was briefed over the ongoing investigation into the matter at the PM’s House.

The meeting was attended by COAS General Raheel Sharif, Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, DG ISI Gen Rizwan Akhtar, Corps Commander Lahore, Director General Intelligence Bureau and other senior civil, military and police officials.

“Considerable progress has been made in the investigations being carried out against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident. Based on the initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Muhammad have been apprehended. The offices of the _rganization are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway,” an official handout issued by Prime Minister’s office said.

The statement added that the meeting noted with satisfaction that as part of Pakistan’s commitment to eliminate terrorism from our soil and the expressed national resolve not to allow our territory to be used for acts of terrorism anywhere.

“In the spirit of the cooperative approach, it was also decided that in order to carry the process forward, additional information would be required, for which the Government of Pakistan is considering to send a Special Investigation Team to Pathankot, in consultation with the Government of India,” the statement said.

The meeting reiterated that in line with our decision to counter and completely eliminate terrorism, Pakistan would remain engaged with India on this issue.

CONFUSION ABOUT MASOOD AZHAR’S ARREST:

However, there was confusion in Bahawalpur whether or not Maulana Masood Azhar had been detained.

“In a major action by intelligence agencies operatives, around 13 activists of Jaish-e-Muhammad have been apprehended from South Punjab including Rahimyar Khan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Multan,” Amin Abbasi, a senior journalist in Bahawalpur told Pakistan Today.

He said that the intelligence operatives raided the offices of Jaish in Multan, Bahawalpur, Rahimyar Khan and Bahawalnagar and took into custody equipment and activists.

However, he claimed that Masood Azhar was not among those detained from Bahawalpur.

Asked whether or not the Jaish offices had been sealed, Abbasi said that the banned outfit’s office in Bahawalpur city was still open but no one was present there.