Saturday 28 / September / 2024
New Delhi: Government does not want to take any "knee-jerk" reaction in the wake of terror attack in Uri in Indian-administered Kashmir as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a high-level meeting to discuss India's response.
Modi held a nearly two-hour meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, NSA Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and other top officials.
Sources privy to the deliberations among the top government functionaries said there will be no "knee-jerk" reaction "anytime soon" even though 18 soldiers were killed by four terrorists in the attack in Uri on Sunday.
Action will be taken only after proper planning, coordination, exploring all options and taking everyone concerned into confidence, sources said.
Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh too appeared to echo government's thinking by saying that no action should be taken under the influence of emotions and anger.
"Having seen the army closely, I feel, it needs to be analysed as to what happened there...It needs to be investigated how the incident took place and what were the lacuna.
"...from the army's side, alertness is required. The Kashmir situation needs to be thought about. The action has to be taken without getting influenced by emotions, anger. It has to be taken coolly and with proper planning," he said.
Top brass of the government is convinced that India has to launch a calibrated, multi-layered and strategic response.
As part of the plans, the Director General of Military Operations will hand over all the evidence shortly.
At the meeting where External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was conspicuously absent, the top security brass briefed the prime minister on the prevailing ground situation in Kashmir Valley in the wake of the attack, the sources said.
The defence minister and the army chief, who visited Kashmir after the terror attack on Sunday, also apprised the prime minister about their observations, they said.
India has reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the army in Jammu and Kashmir that sparked an outrage with the prime minister strongly condemning it.
"We strongly condemn the cowardly terror Attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished," Modi had said.
Indian Army on Monday instituted an inquiry into the attack as preliminary investigations suggested the terrorists had entered the area at least a day before mounting the brazen assault.
Official sources said the inquiry, to be completed in a time bound manner, will suggest measures to prevent such attacks in future as militant groups were indulging more in "shallow infiltration".
According to sources, shallow infiltration means when terrorists cross the Line of Control and target the first available army camp or security establishment.
The suspicion about Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists having entered the LoC a day before arose from the fact that they had beards which were not a day old as fidayeen (suicide) squads are clean shaven generally, the source said.
They said the inquiry will look into all possible lapses that could have led to the attack and ascertain whether it could have been prevented.
It will also suggest preventive measures needed to be employed, including realignment of forces around army installations near the LoC.
A team of National Investigation Agency is likely to visit Uri to take a stock of the situation.
The Indian Army said it reserves the right to respond to any cross-border terror attack "at the time and place of our own choosing".
The army also said it has the desired capability to respond to any blatant acts of aggression and violence as deemed appropriate by us.
The remarks by Director General of Military Operations, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh came at a time when some security experts and political leaders have called for targeting terror camps.
"The Indian Army has displayed considerable restraint while handling the terrorist situation both along the Line of Control and in hinterland. However, we have the desired capability to respond to such blatant acts of aggression and violence as deemed appropriate by us," Lt Gen Singh said in a statement to the media at the South Block.
"We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at the time and place of our own choosing," he added.
Top army sources told PTI that action will be taken but nature and timing of it will not be revealed at the moment.
"There should be an element of surprise which is not there at the moment. The Indian Army of course has its strategy in place and will do its job," the sources said.
Defence Minister Parrikar had been briefed by the Northern Army and Chinar Corps Commanders Lt-Gen. DS Hooda and Lt-Gen. Satish Dua respectively at Srinagar on Sunday about the incident and the operation launched to neutralise the terrorists.
The briefing included discussions on the soft points and how the terrorists managed to get in.
Defence sources had said possible "action plan" was also discussed about how the army can respond to the attack.
Meanwhile, the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Ranbir Singh said the total recoveries from the slain terrorists is four AK 47 rifles, four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers, 39 Under Barrel Grenade Launcher grenades, five hand grenades, two radio sets, two GPSs, two map sheets, two matrix sheets, one mobile phone and a large number of food and medicine packets.
