London, April 25 The High Commission of India in London held a solemn commemorative ceremony in memory of those killed in the Pahalgam terrorist attack and in solidarity with the spirit of India.
The dignitaries and community members observed a moment of silence and stood in solidarity with India.
The ceremony on Thursday was joined by the UK Minister Catherine West; L. Murugan, Indian Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; UK Conservative Party Member of Parliament Bob Blackman; and UK Labour Party Member of Parliament Kanishka Narayan; Members of the UK House of Lords, Baroness Verma, Lord Raval, and Maharashtra's Minister of Social Justice, Sanjay Shirsat. Additionally, members of the Indian diaspora also joined in large numbers to pay their tributes to the innocent lives lost in the terror attack.
“With one voice, they affirmed that terrorism must not go unpunished -- and that India will identify, track down, and bring to justice every terrorist, their handlers, and their backers. The commemoration concluded with the recital of a shloka from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, invoking peace and well-being for all,” said the High Commission.
Meanwhile, in his first address following the barbaric terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday issued a strong and unequivocal message to the perpetrators of the violence, asserting that India will pursue them to the "ends of the earth" and that terrorism will not go unpunished.
"India will identify, track and punish every terrorist, their handlers and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the earth. India's spirit will never be broken by terrorism," he said while addressing a massive gathering in Bihar's Madhubani.
The brutal assault, which has resulted in the death of 25 tourists and a local,l and also left several others critically injured, unfolded on Tuesday in the Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam, where heavily armed terrorists emerged from the surrounding dense forests and opened indiscriminate fire on innocent tourists. The attack has been described as one of the most horrific in the region in recent memory.
According to Intelligence sources, Pakistan-based terror outfit The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack has triggered a string of strong retaliatory diplomatic and strategic actions by India, including suspension of the Indus Water Treaty, expulsion of Pakistani military attaches, closure of the Attari-Wagah border, and cancellation of the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme for Pakistani nationals.
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