Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday praised the country’s security forces on a visit to Pathankot air force base, one week after a militant attack left seven soldiers dead. 
The prime minister flew to the base in northern Punjab to conduct an aerial survey of the area near the Pakistan border, following the strike by gunmen whom officials suspect belonged to the banned Pakistan-based group Jaish-e-Mohamed. 
It follows criticism from the opposition Congress Party of what it called a “grave security lapse” that allowed heavily armed militants to infiltrate the strategically important base, triggering two days of gunbattles. 
“Noted with satisfaction the decision-making & its execution, the considerations that went into our tactical response,” Modi posted on Twitter after the visit, which included a briefing by top army and air force officials. 
“Also noted co-ordination among various field units. Lauded bravery & determination of our men & women on the ground. They are our pride,” he tweeted. 
Soon after landing at the air base Modi met senior officers of the Indian Air Force (IAF), army and National Security Guard (NSG).
Modi was accompanied by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. Army chief General Dalbir Singh, and IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha were also present at the air base during the visit.
Tight security was in place for the prime minister’s visit. No one was allowed to enter the area near the Air Force Station (AFS), located 250km from Chandigarh.
Security forces on Friday said they had finally sanitised the sprawling installation after a lengthy search operation. 
Modi called on Pakistan earlier in the week to take action against those behind the attack, in which six militants also died. 
The Prime Minister’s Office said Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had given assurances that his government would take “prompt and decisive action”.  
Meanwhile, ten key points top the National Investigation Agency’s agenda as it probes the attack.
The NIA, which took over the case on January 4 from the Punjab police, is to uncover the sequence of events from the time the militants sneaked into India.
The key points the NIA is investigating include mobile phone conversations between the militants and their suspected handlers in Pakistan, a Jaish-e-Mohamed letter, DNA samples of the militants, and their voice record samples.
Other issues being focused on include ammunition the militants carried, their strategy, suspected involvement of locals, the route the gunmen took from the India-Pakistan border, the accounts given by a Punjab police officer, his friend and cook after their abduction by the militants just before the attack, and a Pathankot map found from the police officer’s car, an NIA officer said.
“A 20-member team of NIA, led by an inspector general, has been camping in Pathankot to supervise the investigation. Our focus is on the key points,” the officer said. 
An officer of the rank of superintendent of police has been appointed the chief investigating officer of the case, he said.
Another NIA officer said the lapses by the Border Security Force (BSF) in preventing the infiltration from Pakistan into Bamiyal sector adjoining Gurdaspur in Punjab and Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir were being investigated at the highest level.
The failure of the Punjab police, which look after the security of areas near the border, was also under the scanner, the NIA source said.
The attack on Pathankot came just days after a landmark visit to Pakistan by Modi raised hopes of improved relations between the neighbours. 
Jaish-e-Mohamed staged a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament which brought the two countries to the brink of war. 
The Pathankot attack coincided with a 25-hour siege near an Indian consulate in Afghanistan that left at least one policeman dead and 11 wounded.