Indo-Pak talks deferred

India and Pakistan have agreed to reschedule talks between their foreign secretaries, the Indian foreign ministry said yesterday, while an investigation into a deadly attack on an Indian military base is carried out.

India has demanded action against the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad that it suspects of carrying out the attack on the Pathankot air base. Islamabad has held Jaish leader Maulana Masood Azhar and other members, sources say.

Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said New Delhi welcomed the steps taken by Pakistan against the militant group, which was also blamed for a 2001 parliament attack that nearly led to a war between the nuclear-armed rivals.

He said the foreign secretaries of the neighbours spoke on the telephone and decided to defer the talks that had been tentatively scheduled for Friday in Islamabad.

The two diplomats agreed to hold the talks aimed at achieving a thaw in ties in the very near future but no date was announced.

The Pakistani foreign office said a new date had not yet been decided.

A Pakistan foreign office yesterday said that it was not aware about detention of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief, the suspected mastermind.

Talking to reporters in Islamabad, Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said he is "not aware of such arrests".

On Wednesday, Pakistan announced that it has shifted JeM chief Azhar, his brother and other members of the terror outfit to an undisclosed location where the concerned authorities were interrogating them about the armed attack on Pathankot airbase.

Seven Indian military personnel were killed in the Jan. 2 attack on the base in the northern state of Punjab, which was followed by a raid on an Indian consulate in Afghanistan that has also been linked to Jem.