Modi holds talks with IAF chief over Pahalgam terror attack

Prime Minister Narendra Modi
| Photo Credit:
ANI

Hectic parleys among the government’s top brass and service chiefs continued on Sunday as public pressure mounted on the government to avenge the Pahalgam terror attack, with Air Chief Marshal AP Singh meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his office-cum-residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg.

One of the two counter-attacks India has launched in the past to avenge terrorist strikes in Jammu and Kashmir was when IAF fighter jets carried out air strikes on militant camps in Balakot, Pakistan, on February 26, 2019.

This was in response to a suicide attack carried out by the proscribed Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that left 40 security personnel dead.

The IAF remains a potential instrument for kinetic action as well as for air defence in the event of retaliation from Pakistan, defence experts said, in the absence of any official readout on Air Chief Marshal Singh’s meeting with the Prime Minister.

The IAF Chief’s lone visit to Lok Kalyan Marg followed a similar meeting that Indian Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi had with Modi on Saturday. He is believed to have briefed the Prime Minister on the maritime situation in view of heightened tensions with Pakistan.

The Indian Navy, meanwhile, has been conducting drills in the Arabian Sea and has issued warnings for commercial ships to exercise caution while navigating in the region.

Modi is believed to have conveyed Operation Freedom to the tri-services, granting them the authority to choose the target, timing, and nature of the response to the Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 dead, including a Nepali national, and 17 others injured.

The individual meetings with the service chiefs follow a recent high-level engagement the Prime Minister had with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, and the heads of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

Modi himself has declared on multiple occasions the government’s intent to hunt down terrorists and their backers, wherever they may be.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said it is his responsibility to work with the armed forces to give a “befitting reply” to those who cast an evil eye on India, hinting at Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.

Addressing an event in Delhi, Singh said people know Prime Minister Modi very well and are familiar with his working style, determination, and the way he has learned to “take risks” in his life.

“I want to assure you that under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, what you desire will certainly happen,” the Defence Minister said.

Published on May 4, 2025