india

Updated: Jan 15, 2016 01:03 IST

Four persons claiming to be members of the Hindu Sena allegedly barged into the Pakistan International Airlines office on Barakhamba Road and vandalised it. One of them was arrested.

The men broke furniture, damaged computer systems and smashed the windows inside the office and threw pamphlets in the air which were against India’s proposed talks with Pakistan.

“The pamphlets they threw read that till Pakistan does not hand over Hafiz Saeed and Dawood to India, no dialogue with them should be initiated. It said the attack was just a warning and that the Hindu Sena would also disrupt the Lahore bus service and Samjhauta Express,” police said.

According to the police, four men entered the building posing as customers who wanted to make enquiries about bookings at around 3.15 pm.

They went to the fifth floor, confirmed with the receptionist that it was indeed the office of the PIA and started ransacking it.

The men reportedly picked up chairs and threw them on the ground. They damaged the centre table and the sofa sets and even broke a plane model in the office. One of them then picked up computer systems and smashed them on the ground.

After vandalising the office, then men threw the pamphlets in the air and fled the spot.

By then, security and police personnel deployed in the area reached the spot.

One of the men Lalit Singh was arrested from the spot, while the other three managed to escape. Following the incident, a case of vandalism and trespass was registered against the men.

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Thursday asked India to provide adequate security to the PIA offices in the country and take action against “miscreants” who allegedly vandalised the office of Pakistan’s national carrier in New Delhi.

“The Pakistan High Commission immediately took up the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs, asking them to provide adequate security to the PIA offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, as well as to take action against the miscreants,” a spokesperson of the Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement.

“We have been assured by the Indian government that it would take all the necessary steps for the security of the PIA offices in India,” the statement said.

India and Pakistan have agreed to reschedule talks between their foreign secretaries after the Pathankot attack.

Foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup also said India welcomed the action taken by Pakistan against the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group that is blamed for the attack.

The foreign secretaries of the two countries had been due to meet on Friday in Islamabad. Swarup said they would meet in the “very near future”.

(With inputs from PTI)