NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday gave the armed forces “complete freedom’’ to decide on the mode, targets and timing of India’s military response to the deadly April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives.
PM Modi affirmed that it is our national resolve to deal a crushing blow to terrorism, government sources said. While giving complete operational freedom, he expressed complete faith and confidence in the professional abilities of the country’s armed forces.
The clear, unambiguous message was delivered at a top-level key meeting chaired by PM Modi at his residence that lasted for 90 minutes. It was attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chouhan and chiefs of the three wings of the armed forces.
Shortly after the meeting, Home Minister Amit Shah and Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ruling BJP’s ideological mentor, reached the Prime Minister’s residence. Sources said the meeting was in connection with the Pahalgam attack.
According to sources, the PM’s message gives the go-ahead for military action against the terrorists who gunned down 26 people, mostly tourists from different parts of the country. It was the worst such incident since the Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy in February 2019.
In the aftermath of the terror attack, PM Modi vowed to pursue the terrorists behind the attack and their patrons, a clear reference to Pakistan, which has a history of sponsoring terror strikes in India, to the “ends of earth” and inflict the harshest punishment on them “beyond their imagination”.
The terror attack sparked a wave of outrage across the country, cutting across regions, and a demand to punish the perpetrators and their handlers. In the past too, the Modi government conducted surgical strikes inside Pakistan after the Uri attack on army soldiers in 2016 and the attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama in 2019. India had then carried out precision air strikes on terrorist camps in Balakot in Pakistan. The camps were run by the banned terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed with help from the Pak Army.
Earlier in the day, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan chaired a high-level meeting which was attended by chiefs of three paramilitary forces and senior officers of two other security organisations, sources said.
The banned Pak-based terror group – the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s proxy “The Resistance Front” – has claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam terror attack.
In the aftermath of the brutal terror attack, the Modi government has already imposed a series of diplomatic restrictions on Pakistan. India revoked visas for Pakistani nationals, except for Pakistani Hindus and those with long-term stay approvals, and suspended the Indus River Water Treaty.