India is going to focus on holding Pakistan accountable for showing demonstrable action against terror groups, highly placed sources privy to the developments told CNBC-TV18.

"Since the action on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp is over, India's principal effort has been to build maximum international pressure on Pakistan," said people familiar with the matter.

Further, New Delhi is working to ensure the blacklisting of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar at the UN Security Council. Sources said the sanctioning of Azhar may not be the end of the fight against terror but will send a huge political signal to Pakistan and it will no longer be able to deny that it is not the epicentre of terrorism.

Sources pointed out that ever since India's fighter planes struck the JeM camp in Balakot, Pakistan has been spreading misinformation to divert attention. From claiming that a second IAF jet was shot down to no damage caused by Indian jets to reports of an Indian submarine near Pakistani waters and reports that Israel and India were planning to carry out missile strikes together, all these reports show that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is not in control.

Top officials privy to high-level meetings asked why Pakistan has not yet taken journalists to the Balakot JeM training camp area and why there was no fuselage of the so-called second IAF jet shot down by the Pakistani forces. Sources said all aircrafts involved in the dogfight with Pakistani jets have been accounted for barring one MiG-21, which Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was flying.

According to multiple people familiar with the development, India has shared evidence of the AMRAAM air to air missile fired at an Indian military compound with the US and it is now up to America to investigate the misuse of its F16s provided to Pakistan. Officials refused to confirm if they have sought visual evidence of the Balakot strike from other allies and neighbours.

Reacting to recent interviews of Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to the foreign press, sources said, "We don’t believe a word of it as former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf had also used this language". CNBC-TV18 has learnt that India is sharing evidence of Pakistan's complicity in Pulwama attack with the international community through all its envoys.

Sources confirmed that tremendous international pressure had been built up to secure the release of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. Indian diplomats told all P5 countries that Wing Commander Abhinandan cannot be used as a pawn and he must be returned unconditionally.

First Published:Mar 5, 2019 5:39 PM IST