Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has told US Secretary of state John Kerry that Islamabad is swiftly carrying out investigations into Pathankot incident and will soon unearth the truth.
Sharif told Mr Kerry that "we are swiftly carrying out investigations in a transparent manner and will bring out the truth. The world will see our effectiveness and sincerity in this regard, the Prime Minister added," a statement issued by the Pakistan Prime Minister's Office said.
"Kerry extended full support to the Prime Minister to find out the truth in the Pathankot terror incident," the statement said.
Pakistan was eliminating terrorism from its soil and would not allow anyone to use its soil to conduct terror operations abroad, Nawaz told the US Secretary of State.
The statement from Sharif's office quoted Kerry as saying that the US hoped the India-Pakistan dialogue “will continue despite the fact that terrorists have tried to thwart it”.
The Prime Minister also reiterated Pakistan's commitment to not allow anyone to use its soil “to conduct terror operations abroad”. Kerry extended full support and cooperation to Sharif “to find out the truth in the Pathankot terror incident”, the statement said.
Indian officials have said Islamabad has been given intercepts of telephone calls made by the attackers to Pakistan-based handlers, the Pakistani phone numbers they called and the locations of these numbers. The external affairs ministry spokesperson described this information as “actionable intelligence”.
Soon after receiving the information from India, Pakistan had acknowledged it was investigating some “leads”. Sharif also telephoned his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and assured him of “prompt and decisive action”.
India's foreign ministry said Islamabad has been given actionable intelligence that those who planned the assault came from Pakistan.
"As far as we are concerned, the ball is now in Pakistan's court," spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters when asked if the talks were on. "The immediate issue in front of us is Pakistan's response to the terrorist attack."
