PM briefed on attacks at Pathankot & Mazar

As the operation to flush out terrorists at the Pathankot airbase entered the third day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held an hour-long meeting with national security adviser Ajit Doval to review the situation there as well as the attack on the Indian consulate in Afghanistan.

Sources said that at the meeting, which began at 11 am, the PM was apprised of the situation in both Pathankot and Mazar-e-Sharif (where the Indian consulate attack began Sunday night). Measures which need to be taken to control the situation in Pathankot were discussed, sources said. Finance minister Arun Jaitley and defence minister Manohar Parrikar were also present.

Prime Minister Modi, meanwhile, told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who called him up Monday to brief him on the situation in Mazar-e-Sharif, that India would always stand with the people of Afghanistan despite attacks like the one on the Indian consulate.

Late Monday, the siege near India’s Afghan consulate ended after all the attackers were killed, said officials. Government sources said various aspects on the attack were being verified, such as whether the real target was the consulate, the group to which the attackers belonged, and if there was any Pakistani involvement.

If there is an indication of a Pakistani role, it would mean a pincer attack against India wherein elements of the Pakistani military establishment coordinated attacks at Pathankot and Mazar-e-Sharif at the same time, and this would be a very serious matter, sources said. Soon after returning from a two-day visit to Karnataka, Mr Modi had chaired a similar meeting on Sunday night of top officials, including Mr Doval and foreign secretary S. Jaishankar, to review the situation in Pathankot.

The security forces had Sunday killed one of the at least two terrorists on the second day of the attack in which seven security personnel lost their lives, including an NSG lieutenant-colonel. Four terrorists were killed on Saturday when they had struck at the airbase.

On Monday, President Ghani also strongly condemned the “cross-border” terrorist strike in Pathankot, a clear pointer to Pakistan, and extended condolences at the loss of lives. During the telephonic call, Mr Ghani briefed Mr Modi on the terror attack in Mazar-e-Sharif, a PMO statement said.