Pakistan arrests JeM militants after Pathankot attack

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Wednesday it had arrested several members of the banned outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad, suspected of masterminding an attack on an Indian air base in Pathankot.

India had claimed that JeM group was behind masterminding an attack earlier this month on the air base, near the boarder.

Pakistan's Prime Minister's office said in a statement that the offices of the group were being traced and sealed and further investigations are underway, and that the government wants to send a team of special investigators to the Pathankot air base in India for further investigation.

News of the arrests comes 48 hours before a rare meeting between the foreign secretaries of two countries is scheduled to take place.

Pakistan has promised it would get to the bottom of who was behind the assault on the air base after India handed over evidence to Pakistan that it said implicated Jaish-e-Mohammad in the Jan.2 attack, in which seven military personnel were killed.

India´s Ministry of External Affairs was not immediately available for comment but said earlier it would decide late on Wednesday whether Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar would travel to Islamabad on Friday.

Pakistan´s prime minister´s office said in a statement the government had made "considerable progress" in investigating the attack.

"Based on the initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad, have been apprehended," the office of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said.