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Indian forces free to choose means, dates of response to Kashmir terrorist attack — PM

Narendra Modi expressed full confidence in the professionalism of the Indian military and vowed to pursue and severely punish terrorists
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sean Gallup/ Getty Images
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi
© Sean Gallup/ Getty Images

NEW DELHI, April 29. /TASS/. The Indian military is free to choose the means, targets, and dates of its response to the terrorist attack on the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a high-level security meeting.

"The armed forces have full operational freedom in choosing the means, targets, and dates of India's retaliation measures," the PTI news agency quoted Modi as saying.

"Our national resolve is to deliver a crushing blow to terrorism," the prime minister pointed out.

Modi expressed full confidence in the professionalism of the Indian military and vowed to pursue and severely punish terrorists.

On April 22, armed individuals opened fire on tourists in the town of Pahalgam in northern India, killing 25 Indian nationals and one tourist from Nepal. According to Indian media, the attack was carried out by the Resistance Front, the sabotage wing of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba radical group (outlawed in Russia).

Following the attack, India reduced its embassy staff in Islamabad by half, declared the Pakistani diplomatic mission's military advisors personae non gratae, and closed the key Attari checkpoint on the border with Pakistan. Additionally, Indian authorities suspended the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan and stopped issuing visas to Pakistani nationals.