National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday for the second time in the past 48 hours, amid rising tensions with Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed 26 lives.
The back-to-back high-level consultations come just ahead of the nationwide mock security drills scheduled for Wednesday — the first such exercise since the 1971 war — being conducted under the Home Ministry’s directive to bolster civil defence preparedness in the event of a hostile attack.
In recent days, the Prime Minister has convened multiple meetings with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, NSA Doval, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, and the chiefs of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, significantly intensifying deliberations around a potential military response to the Pahalgam incident.
Government sources cited by IANS, indicate that in a crucial meeting last week, the Prime Minister granted the Indian armed forces full operational freedom to determine the nature, targets, and timing of India’s military response.
Further reinforcing India’s preparedness, Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh met PM Modi at his 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence on Sunday. The high-level meeting, which lasted 45 minutes, was the second such engagement between the Prime Minister and military leadership within 24 hours. A day earlier, the Prime Minister had held detailed discussions with Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi, Chief of the Naval Staff.
Following the Pahalgam attack, India has launched a series of diplomatic and strategic countermeasures against Pakistan, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, cancellation of visas for Pakistani nationals, and the termination of cultural and trade exchanges.
India has also closed the Attari-Wagah border crossing and shut its airspace to Pakistani commercial aircraft.
Indian authorities say they have concrete intelligence linking the assault to terror outfits supported by the Pakistani establishment.
Ongoing ceasefire violations along the Line of Control, with unprovoked firing from Pakistani posts for the past 12 days, have further escalated the already tense situation. The Indian Army has responded proportionately to these breaches.
-IANS