PM visits Pathankot air base, takes stock

In the wake of PM Modi’s visit, heavy security arrangements were made in Pathankot, especially, areas around the Air Force base itself, including Dhaki Chowk etc. 

Under attack from the Opposition over the way the terror onslaught was handled with the security forces taking four days to neutralise the terrorists, Modi visited the facility where he was briefed about the attack and security measures put in place in its aftermath.

Accompanied by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Modi flew to the strategically important air base where Air Force chief Air Marshal Arup Raha and National Security Guard officials briefed him about the attack and counteroffensive launched against the perpetrators with the help of maps, aerial pictures and operational photographs, defence sources said. Army chief Dalbir Singh and chiefs of NSG and BSF were present during the visit.

“Noted with satisfaction the decision-making & its execution, the considerations that went into our tactical response,” PMO tweeted after his visit to the airbase. “Also noted coordination among various field units. Lauded bravery & determination of our men & women on the ground. They are our pride,” it said in another tweet.

Modi also went around the scene of the audacious attack that exposed the chinks in the armour of the Indian security establishment and was shown the huge cache of weapons and ammunition recovered from the six slain perpetrators. Seven Indian security personnel were also killed during the assault.

The Prime Minister was taken around the Military Engineering Service Yard where the terrorists were first engaged by the security forces and the two-storey billet for airmen’s accommodation where the last two terrorists were killed after the structure was blown up by the security forces, before undertaking an aerial survey of the forward positions along the Indo-Pakistan border.

Security forces had on Friday declared the sprawling Air Force station fully sanitised after a massive combing operation spanning over three days.

Meanwhile, Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad, headed by Maulana Masood Azhar, has uploaded an audio clip on a website making startling disclosures about how terrorists attacked the Pathankot airbase on January 2. The clip has been uploaded on the website www.alqalamionline.com.

The 13-minute address has also been transcribed in a local Urdu magazine in Azhar’s hometown Bahawalpur. At several places the clip talks about how the men “fired at Indian tanks, military cars and helicopters.” The speaker warns the Pakistan government not to accept Indian evidence.

“Pakistan ke ilaam India ke ilzaam ke saamne kyon jhukte hein? Kyon sharmate hein?

(Why do Pakistan’s leaders bow before India’s allegations? Why do they shame us?),” he asks. He ridicules how Indian defence agencies could not tackle the six “mujaheedin”. He adds that the attack at Pathankot airbase was a fidayeen operation.

The US, on the other hand, feels that time has come for Pakistan to walk the talk on the promises it made — both in public and in private conversations — that there would be no discrimination in its action against terrorist networks and bring the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack to justice.

Amid Indian intelligence reports that groups and people within Pakistan planned and executed the strike on the Pathankot airbase, a senior state department official said Pakistan should not come out with lame excuses to shield them as has been the case with the Mumbai terrorist attack.

“They (Pakistan) have said publicly that they are going to investigate. They have said publicly that they are not going to discriminate between terrorist groups. We look to see actions to back up those words,” the official added.

The official indicated that the US wants to give the civilian government time and space to act on its words and hoped that Pakistan would not repeat its past trend wherein it is seen reluctant in taking actions against terrorist groups under one excuse or the other. The official also expressed a sense of satisfaction over the reaction by the Nawaz Sharif government on the first few days of the attack.

A terror alert has been issued in Punjab’s Batala town which is in Gurdaspur district. The police force in villages surrounding Batala has been summoned to the district police headquarters. Security has been heightened across the entire district.