Kashmir terror attack: Modi explores tough options amid rising calls for retaliation

A day after the brutal cold-blooded massacre of 17 Indian soldiers by Pakistani militants, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held a meeting with his senior ministers to explore befitting reply to what India sees as the handiwork of Pakistani militants, in collusion with its powerful military establishment.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag were among those who attended the meeting at the prime minister’s residence on September 19.

The meeting took place amid a rising crescendo of national outrage over the killing of Indian soldiers by Pakistani militants, the biggest terror attack on the Indian Army in over a decade, and a growing chorus of influential voices in the strategic establishment rooting for swift retaliation and surgical strikes on terror camps based in Pakistan.
The sheer audacity with which Pakistani militants slaughtered 17 Indian soldiers in a pre-dawn raid on September 18 bear the hallmark of Jaish e-Mohammed, a strategic asset nurtured by Pakistan’s military-ISI establishment which is also being held responsible by India for planning and executing the attack on the Pathankot air base in the beginning of the year.

Taking a tough stand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured the nation that “those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished.”
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has ratcheted up the pressure, and called for declaring Pakistan a terrorist state,” indicating that the India-Pakistan relations have sunk to a new low. BJP leader and ideologue Ram Madhav has crystallised national anger in his hard-hitting statement, saying that the days of strategic restraint are over and called for “for one tooth, the complete jaw.”
Pakistan has predictably denied any role in the incident and rejected the “baseless and irresponsible accusations.” This casual response of formulaic denial is only going to compel India to take tough decisive actions that will make it costly for sponsors of terror in the neighbouring country to continue on this course of terror and destruction.

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