PM Modi’s big message: ‘Forces can decide targets, mode and timing of India’s response’

As tension continues to escalate between India and Pakistan following the deadly terror attack in Pahalgam last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday chaired a crucial meeting with the top defence establishment at his residence.

 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the chiefs of three services were present at the meeting. Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan was also part of the meeting.

 

According to government sources, Modi asserted that the armed forces have "complete operational freedom" to decide on the mode, targets and timing of India's response.

 

While expressing complete faith and confidence in the professional abilities of the armed forces, the prime minister affirmed that it is the national resolve to deal a crushing blow to terrorism.

 

"They have complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets and timing of our response," he was quoted as saying by sources.

 

India has been weighing its countermeasures ever since the attack in which 26 civilians, mostly tourists, lost their lives in the scenic valley in Anantnag.

 

Security forces have launched a search operations at multiple places in Jammu and Kashmir for the terrorists who sprayed bullets indiscriminately at the tourists, in one of the deadliest attack in the region in decades.

 

India has alleged cross-border links to the attack with Prime Minister Modi vowing to pursue the terrorists behind the attack and their patrons—a clear reference to Pakistan—to the "ends of earth" and inflict the harshest punishment on them.

 

New Delhi’s tough assertions have pushed the two nuclear-armed neighbours on the brink of a regional war, with the political leadership in Islamabad also raising war rhetoric and provocations.

 

On April 23, a day after the attack, India announced a slew of punitive actions against Pakistan, including the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty.

India