India thwarted cyberattack from Pak-based group

Sources say PM said this at high-level meet attended by the three services chiefs

- ARCHIS MOHAN

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told a high-level meeting attended by the country's three services chiefs that the armed forces have "complete operational freedom" to decide on the mode, targets and timing of India's response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 25 tourists and one local.

Apart from the three services chiefs, the meeting in the evening, which was chaired by the PM, was attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan.

The Union Cabinet is scheduled to meet at 11am on Wednesday, its first meeting after the Pahalgam attack. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had met on April 23 after which India announced its five-pronged response to the terror attack, including suspending the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

At Tuesday evening's meeting, the PM said 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.

In his first comments on the terror attack at his public address in Bihar on Thursday, the PM had said that India will pursue the terrorists behind the attack and their patrons to the "ends of earth" and inflict the harshest punishment on them "beyond their imagination". India has identified cross-border linkages to the terror attack, and said it has suspended IWT until Pakistan abjures sponsoring terrorism.

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.