Pahalgam terror updates: PM Modi's aircraft avoided Pakistan's airspace. India planning Balkot-model air raids?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has returned to India, cutting short his Saudi Arabia trip, following the terror attack at Kashmir's Pahalgam which saw 26 deaths.

A high-level meeting was held at the Delhi airport on his arrival, attended by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri was also part of the meeting. Home Minister Amit Shah had rushed to Kashmir immediately after learning about the incident.

PM's plane take Arabian sea route

While the nation anticipates India's response to the attacks, what caught the eye was how Narendra Modi's aircraft avoided Pakistani airspace on his return journey from Saudi Arabia. Despite the not-so-good diplomatic relations between the two countries, government aircraft had been using each other's airspace. Modi, on his trip to Saudi, had used the Pakistan airspace, the shortest route to the Gulf countries.

However, interestingly, he chose the alternative route, the Arabian Sea, on his return journey, a much longer and expensive route. Though the Prime Minister's Office has not officially confirmed this, many feel this could be a diplomatic decision or a message to Pakistan.

Another Balkot?

All eyes are on how India will formulate its response and defence strategy. Home Minister Amit Shah too is on the ground in Srinagar. The Home Minister arrived at Srinagar on Tuesday evening, on hearing about the attack. He will visit the site of the terrorist attack along with Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and is expected to interact with eyewitnesses and visit the hospitals where the injured are being treated.

While a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has been scheduled for 11 am on Wednesday, in which further strategy will be decided, speculations are rife that another Balkot could be in the offing.

The 2019 Balakot airstrike was a bombing raid conducted by Indian fighter jets on February 26, 2019, at Balakot in Pakistan, against an alleged training camp of the terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed. 

There are also apprehensions over who will helm the Northern Command, if such an attack is planned considering that Lt Gen MV Suchindra Kumar, the current GOC-in-C of the Northern Command, is set to retire on April 30 and he has barely a week left. He will be succeeded by Lt Gen Pratik Sharma.

India