Pahalgam terror attack: PM Modi says armed forces have full
Pahalgam terror attack: PM Modi says armed forces have full freedom to decide on targets, timing of response
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted on Tuesday that the armed forces have "complete operational freedom" to decide on the mode, targets and timing of India's response to the Pahalgam terror attack
In this screenshot from a video released by PMO, Tuesday,
April 29, 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Defence Minister Rajnath
Singh, CDS General Anil Chauhan and Army Chief Gen. Upendra Dwivedi during a
meeting in New Delhi. (PMO via PTI Photo)
NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted on Tuesday that the armed
forces have "complete operational freedom" to decide on the mode,
targets and timing of India's response to the Pahalgam terror attack, as he
chaired a meeting with the top defence establishment.
During the high-level meeting, which was attended by
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the
chiefs of three services, Modi affirmed that it is the national resolve to deal
a crushing blow to terrorism, government sources said.
Modi expressed complete faith and confidence in the
professional abilities of the armed forces.
"They have complete operational freedom to decide on
the mode, targets and timing of our response," a source quoted Modi as
saying.
Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan was also part
of the meeting, which was held amid India weighing its options for
countermeasures following the Pahalgam terror attack which left at least 26
civilians, mostly tourists, dead.
Modi has 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".
Terrorists had gunned down tourists, who were from
different parts of the country, in the popular destination of Pahalgam in
Kashmir exactly a week ago on April 22.
This most brutal attack on civilians in a long spell of
time in the region has sparked a wave of outrage across the country and a
demand for retaliatory action against the perpetrators and their handlers.
The prime minister's tough assertions coupled with his
government's avowed muscular stand on the issues of national security have
heightened expectations of a stringent counteraction from India.
In the past, the Modi government carried out surgical
strikes inside Pakistan after the terror attack on army soldiers in Uri in 2016
and the Balakot air strike after the killings of CRPF personnel in Pulwama.
Following the terror strike in Pahalgam, India has taken
a series of measures targeting Pakistan, including putting in abeyance the
Indus Waters Treaty with the neighbouring country.
Earlier in the day, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan had
chaired a high-level meeting which was attended by chiefs of three paramilitary
forces and senior officers of two other security organisations, sources said.
There was no official word on its agenda.
