A Pakistan police spokesman said on Friday a case has been lodged against unnamed perpetrators of a deadly attack on an Indian air base last month. The January 2 attack on the Pathankot air base, in which seven Indian security personnel were killed, has stalled hopes of revived peace talks between the nations after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to his counterpart Nawaz Sharif in December.
India said it gave actionable intelligence to Pakistan in the weeks following the attack, but Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar suggested on Thursday Pakistan was slow to act.
"The government of India has been continuously giving evidence of so many things," Parrikar said in a televised interview on India Today. "If someone is serious, he can definitely act."
Foreign secretary level talks between the nuclear-armed neighbours had been scheduled for last month. On Thursday, Pakistan's Foreign Office said a new date should be decided "as early as possible".
Counter-terrorism police in Punjab on Thursday filed a case against the alleged air base attackers and "their alleged abettors" belonging to a banned militant group, a spokesman said in a statement.
It did not give the number or names of the accused, or which group they belonged to.
Last month, Pakistan detained Maulana Masood Azhar, head of Jaish-e-Mohammad, or Army of Mohammad, a militant group that Indian officials blamed for the attack.
Pakistan authorities sealed offices and shut several religious schools run by the group, but security officials said a special team set up to look into the attack found no evidence implicating Azhar or associates in the January raid.
On Friday, Pakistani officials said a new joint team of military and civil intelligence agencies would look into the freshly lodged case, and that any non-state actor found to be involved would be brought to justice.-Reuters
INP adds: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab police on Friday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the alleged attackers of the Pathankot airbase in India and their abettors
According to the CTD spokesman, FIR No. 06/2016 was registered in the CTD police station Gujranwala under sections 302, 324 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code, and sections 7 and 21-I of the Anti-Terrorism Act, the CTD spokesman said.
The FIR was registered on a complaint filed by Deputy Home Secretary Aitzaz-ud-Din.
A formal investigation was launched following the registration of the FIR, he said, adding that a joint investigation team will probe the attack and those involved will be brought to trial in accordance with law.