Talking tough in the wake of attack on army camp in Nagrota, India on Thursday made it clear that talks with Pakistan cannot take place in an atmosphere of "continued terror", which it will never accept as "new normal" in the bilateral relationship.
Authorities arrange helicopters to shift Sharif to jail; 300 PML-N workers arrested.
'India's worst fears have come true because the Pakistan investigating team has, obediently and dutifully, done its masters' bidding by giving a clean chit to Pakistan, the Jaish, the ISI and all other well known actors,' says Rajeev Sharma.
The Pakistani JIT concluded its six-day discussions with NIA on the probe into the Pathankot terror attack even as the visiting officials recorded statements of witnesses.
'Dealing with Pakistan can become dangerous, and even suicidal, for the powers that be in New Delhi,' warns Rajeev Sharma.
Denying the Pakistani investigators access to the Pathankot base on operational grounds would not, the government felt, compromise national security, reveals Rajeev Sharma.
'Will Muhammad Habib Zahir -- who was part of the team that arrested Kulbhushan Jadhav and went missing in Nepal -- figure in a Jadhav-for-Zahir deal?' asks Aditi Phadnis.
An Indian national, who went missing in Pakistan's restive northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in 2012, was taken away by intelligence agencies from a police station before his disappearance, police has said.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also said the "warmth and ease" in relationship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif can help resolve complex issues between the two neighbours.
'The Modi government knows that much cannot be expected of Pakistan till the Kulbhushan Jadhav issue is resolved,' says Rajeev Sharma.
If Pakistan finally and officially rules out the possibility of an Indian investigation team's reciprocal visit for the Pathankot probe, it should also be seen as the Chinese "hidden veto" in the India-Pakistan bilateral context, says Rajeev Sharma.
'The Pakistani game plan in making its envoy in India to perform the last rites of a fledgling peace process is madness with a method.'
India cannot aspire for great power status unless our leaders truly understand the meaning of national security. Cricket can wait and so can people to people contacts, book launches and Bollywood camaraderie. Let us get down to brass tacks on our counter-terror mission, says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
It is because of the feared domestic backlash that the Modi government is now stepping up pressure on Pakistan to accommodate Indian interests.
The visiting Pakistani JIT will begin recording the statements of the witnesses in the Pathankot terror attack case from Thursday.
It is quite likely that the Pakistanis are cleverly using the Jadhav card to derail the outcome of the JIT process.
At least 21 people, including a suicide-bomber, were arrested on Monday and explosives and a suicide vest recovered from Wagah border area as all of Pakistan was put on red alert after 61 people were killed in a deadly terror attack at the Indo-Pak land border crossing.
Modi has been wrong in thinking that he can influence people and win friends in Pakistan through his high-octane brand of diplomacy. That is why his Pakistan policy that started off on the high note of saree-and-shawl diplomacy now threatens to end with a whimper with cloak-and-dagger games, says Rajeev Sharma.
'India is currently waging a diplomatic war against Pakistan, to convey to Islammabad that each terror attack on India will come with huge diplomatic costs,' says Rajeev Sharma.
A five-member JIT from Pakistan reached Pathankot on Sunday to carry out a probe into the attack at the IAF base at Pathankot.
'The Pakistani JIT's visit is the first ever experiment by the two South Asian neighbours to probe a terror attack 'jointly.' Well, it is not unlike the scenario wherein the thief himself is made an investigator,' says Rajeev Sharma.
Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad Gautam Bambawale met Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua in connection with the case of Jadhav, who has been given death sentence by a Pakistani military court for alleged spying.
Pakistan's political crisis deepened on Monday with cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri giving a fresh 48-hour ultimatum to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down after a former top election commission official backed protesters' allegations of rigging in last year's polls.
India plans to provide the probe team from Pakistan access to all witnesses in the Pathankot terror attack case but not security personnel from the National Security Guard or the Border Security Force.
'Will Pakistan allow R&AW and Indian armed force officers access to roam around their strategic bases?' 'Is there any precedent anywhere in the world of such permissions being granted?'
'We have never had a policy regarding Pakistani artistes working in India.' 'We welcome them with open arms and that remains the official policy of the Indian government, including the current dispensation.'
Significantly, reveals Rajeev Sharma, the MEA was not even consulted on the Dolkun Isa issue.
When asked if the Indian investigating agency would be allowed to visit Pakistan, Basit said that 'the whole investigation is not about reciprocity in view'.
The SC also ordered the National Accountability Court to start a corruption case against Sharif, his sons -- Hussain and Hassan -- and daughter Maryam.
'Pakistan has responded with appropriate contempt -- hrowing our national dignity into the waste paper basket.'
'The army has stopped short of exerting the sort of influence it may have done historically.' 'It is comfortable with its relations with the civilian government as the superior partner.'
The death toll in the horrific suicide attack that shook Pakistan minutes after the popular flag-lowering ceremony at Wagah climbed to 61 on Monday. Security agencies have arrested about 20 suspects from the Indo-Pak border area.
India should adopt a pro-active strategy on Pakistan -- catalysing, facilitating and making room for a change in its anti-India posture.
'The attack on the Pathankot base constituted an act of war. Yet Modi's only public comment up until now on that attack has been to blame it on "enemies of humanity".' 'Modi came to power talking tough about Pakistan. But in office, he has pursued a Pakistan policy that has lost both direction and purpose,' argues Brahma Chellaney.
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