Defence experts have questioned the way the audacious terror attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot was handled, with some even saying it was the result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "high-risk" mission to Lahore where he met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.
The National Investigation Agency handed over some more documents, including DNA reports and call details of the four terrorists killed in the attack, to the JIT.
Although there has been no official word so far, it is unlikely that Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar would travel to Islamabd as planned this Thursday for talks with his Pakistani counterpart for the comprehensive bilateral dialogue.
Perimeter security will be strengthened at army bases under six commands, the sources said.
Chaudhry will hold bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar to review the status of bilateral ties and Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue, which is stagnant.
All Indian prime ministers must know that the route to their Nobel Peace Prize doesn't go through Pakistan, says Rajeev Sharma.
Maken also raised questions over the 'silence' of the government on Pakistan's role in the attack.
It is because of the feared domestic backlash that the Modi government is now stepping up pressure on Pakistan to accommodate Indian interests.
'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.
Even as Pakistan on Wednesday detained Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother and "several individuals" belonging to his dreaded outfit, suspected to have engineered the Pathankot terror attack, India has said it has no official conformation of the same.
The ruling party in Maharashtra also questioned the move of the National Investigation Agency taking over the probe into the explosives-laden SUV found parked near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's house last month, saying that the agency generally investigates terrorism-related cases, but there was no terror angle involved in this episode.
The American side also committed itself to treat Pathankot attack at par with 26/11 terror strike in terms of ensuring punishment to perpetrators based in Pakistan.
Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party leaders met the governor in Chandigarh on Thursday, demanding the dismissal of the state's home minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and the police chief over the security breach during the prime minister's visit to Punjab.
The incident took place when the driver, Pardip Saini, 40, was on his way to Pathankot after dropping a passenger in Amritsar via Gurdaspur bypass late on Saturday night.
'He is still compulsively an operations man. Just a whiff of a live operation, and he is back in the field, at least in his mind. That is why the immediate decision to send the NSG to Pathankot.' 'But there is a difference between classical intelligence or counter-terror operation and dealing with a larger threat to a place as sensitive and sprawling as an air force base. This is what led to confusion and mix-ups,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Taking a swipe at the prime minister, Shinde said Modi used to say that UPA ministers were serving biryani to Pakistani leaders but what is happening now.
India has said that the onus is on Pakistan to create an environment free of terror and hostility.
o dates have been fixed in this regard yet. The ministry of external affairs is expected to make a formal statement in this regard on Thursday.
Following are some of the terror-related incidents that have taken place in Punjab between 2001 and 2016.
'We have not had one discussion on the border incursions or the subsequent report of the building of Chinese villages on Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh.'
'It is possible elements within the Pakistani establishment felt bad about eating humble pie and wanted to avenge the humiliation through a terror attack.' 'After all, lodging an FIR in Pakistan about the Pathankot attack amounted to an admission of Pakistani involvement,' says Rajeev Sharma.
'Jaish looked to creating regional mayhem, at a time when peace appeared more likely, and when that peace would have threatened Jaish's existence.'
War is not a solution to problems between India and Pakistan and only "foolish" people would consider such an option, says Pakistan High Commissioner B S Basit.
An orange alert has been sounded for Srinagar, Avantipur, Jammu, Pathankot, Hindon airbases after the monitoring of the terrorists' movements by the intelligence agencies.
Sharif 'assured Prime Minister Modi that his government would take prompt and decisive action against the terrorists,' the PMO said.
The girl was allegedly repeatedly assaulted before being killed at a village in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district in January.
'It sounds hollow when the military -- the last bastion meant to secure India within the State of India -- is itself not found secure on the third day of the Pathankot strike, in spite of so-called definitive intelligence inputs and preparations,' says Lieutenant General Anil Chait (retd), former chief of the Integrated Defence Staff.
'The sky is the limit for what all could be done at an air base to neutralise terrorists. Good proactive local leadership and delegated operational effort would be key to ensuring that a handful of terrorists cannot hold a whole air base, and by extension, the whole nation to ransom,' says Group Captain P I Muralidharan (retd).
India and Pakistan in a surprise announcement said on February 25 that they have agreed to strictly observe all agreements on ceasefire along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and other sectors.
After the attack on the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot on January 2, India in February wrote to the UN calling for immediate action to list Azhar under the Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee.
In a volte-face, Pakistan's cabinet on Thursday rejected the proposal of a high-powered committee to import cotton and sugar from India, with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi asserting that there can be no normalisation of ties until New Delhi reverses its decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Suresh Raina, who pulled out of the IPL citing personal reasons, on Tuesday demanded a thorough probe into the violent attack on his aunt's family in Punjab, in which his uncle and cousin lost their lives.
Veteran Indian trap shooter, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, has condoled the death of Subedar Major Fateh Singh, a former Commonwealth champion shooter who was martyred while fighting the terrorists at the Pathankot Air Force Station base.
India has formally approached the United Nations to include Jaish-e-Mohammad chief and Pathankot terror attack mastermind Masood Azhar in the Security Council's sanctions list, strongly emphasising the urgency to take action against him.
Raising questions over the role of Pakistan's powerful military in the Pathankot terror attack, a former ambassador to India has said that the army does not appreciate Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's attempts to decide on the country's policy towards India.
'If India employed a strategy of a 'thousand cuts', Pakistan will wither away.'
Without doubt, the BJP is miles ahead in marshalling digital tools for electioneering better than any other party, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Ties between India and Pakistan nosedived after a terror attack on the Pathankot Air Force base in 2016 by terror groups based in the neighbouring country. Subsequent attacks, including one on Indian Army camp in Uri, further deteriorated the relationship.
The Congress accused the BJP and a section of media of deliberately twisting Gandhi's remarks.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday discussed with top officials, including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, the security situation in the country, including the tension at National Institute of Technology Srinagar and the denial of permission to the National Investigation Agency team to visit Pakistan in connection with the Pathankot attack.
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