Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security to review the situation and discuss the government's response a day after a terrorist attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir. The meeting was attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and other senior officials. Shah briefed the prime minister on the attack and discussed steps being taken in its aftermath.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, also a member of the CCS, was unable to attend the meeting as she is returning from the United States. She cut short her official visit following the terror strike. Others present at the high-level meeting included Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and the prime minister's principal secretaries P K Mishra and Shaktikanta Das.
The attack took place on Tuesday evening at the meadow of Baisaran, a popular tourist site near Pahalgam. According to officials, the terrorists asked the tourists about their religion before shooting the men in the head. The incident claimed the lives of 26 people, including tourists from 14 Indian states and two foreign nationals. It is the deadliest attack in the Kashmir Valley since the 2019 Pulwama strike. The Resistance Front, a terror outfit believed to be a proxy of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Prime Minister Modi returned early Wednesday from Saudi Arabia, cutting short his visit. He held an emergency meeting at the airport with Jaishankar, Doval and Foreign Secretary Misri soon after landing in New Delhi. Earlier in the day, Home Minister Shah visited Baisaran in Pahalgam to assess the site of the attack. He also visited a hospital where some of the injured victims are being treated.