India, Pak 'mutually' decide to defer talks

Foreign secretaries to meet in the 'very near future'

Islamabad and New Delhi on Thursday gave a rare exhibition of how consultations and mutual agreement can help steer tricky diplomatic negotiations without causing embarrassment to either side. The two governments announced that their Foreign Secretary level talks have been postponed by a week or two.

They stressed that the talks have not been cancelled, but postponed after mutual consultations by the respective foreign secretaries. India also welcomed the visit of a Special Investigation Team from Pakistan to probe the Pathankot airbase attack of January 2 and offered "all necessary cooperation" to it.

New Delhi lauded Islamabad for having detained a dozen members of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). India has claimed the JeM, led by its chief Masood Azhar and his brother Rauf Azhar, was behind the Pathankot attack. Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Vikas Swarup termed the detention as an "important and positive first step". He said there was "considerable progress" made by the Pakistan side in the probe. India has been stressing that it is unprecedented for Pakistan to have accepted the possibility that the terror attack may have been masterminded and launched from its territory.

Last month, Islamabad had announced the talks between Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and his Pakistan counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary for January 15, but there was a shadow on the talks after the attack. The two foreign secretaries spoke to each other on Thursday. They agreed that their parleys would be rescheduled to the "very near future", officials said.

Reports of detention of JeM Chief Masood Azhar carried by the Pakistani media on Wednesday and picked up by the Indian press, turned out to be untrue, but India has not linked the talks to his detention.

The news that talks have been postponed was confirmed earlier in the afternoon by Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah. To questions on the detention of Azhar, he said, "I am not aware of any such arrest."

Swarup said the talks have been deferred as the foreign secretaries felt some more time was required before they meet "away from the shadow" of the investigations into the terror strike.

In a related development, members of a right-wing group vandalised the office of Pakistan International Airlines on Thursday afternoon near Barakhamba Road in New Delhi. Police sources said the accused are associates of the person who had called up the police last year regarding "beef" being served at New Delhi's Kerala House.