We have no official confirmation regarding detention of Maulana Masood Azhar: MEA

Even as Pakistan on Wednesday arrested Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother and 'several individuals' belonging to his dreaded outfit, India said that they had no official confirmation of the same.

Pic courtesy: ANI

Delhi: Even as Pakistan on Wednesday detained Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother and 'several individuals' belonging to his dreaded outfit, which is suspected to have engineered the Pathankot terror attack, India said that they had no official confirmation of the same.

"We have no official confirmation on arrest of Maulana Masood Azhar," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, as per ANI.

Mohammad Zubair, a minister in the Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan, told an Indian TV channel that he cannot confirm the detention of Azhar by Pakistani authorities, as per PTI.

Meanwhile, Geo TV said​ that Azhar's brother Abdul Rehman Rauf had also been detained.

Pakistan has also said it's considering sending a special investigation team to Pathankot as more information would be required to carry forward the process of cooperation with India.

Terrorists belonging to the JeM are believed by India to be behind the Pathankot terror attack on January 2 in which seven security personnel were killed.

Azhar was released from an Indian prison in 1999 in exchange for release of 155 passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane.

(With PTI inputs)