Pahalgam attack: PM Modi says armed forces have full freedom to decide on targets, timing of response

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.