Union home minister Amit Shah is likely to visit Anantnag district on Wednesday to take stock of security arrangements and counter-terrorism operations, followed by a high-level meeting at the Raj Bhavan in Srinagar, a day after Pakistan-based terrorists killed over two dozen tourists, people familiar with the development said.
However, it is not known if Shah will visit the attack site at Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam, which is in Anantnag.
The home minister, according to an official who didn’t want to be named, “is likely to visit Anantnag today and then hold a meeting at Raj Bhavan to discuss the next steps, including how to deal with the problem at hand”.
After the attack, Shah rushed to Srinagar on Tuesday evening and has since taken regular updates from senior security officials. As soon as he reached Srinagar, J&K Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat briefed him about the incident and subsequent security operations in the presence of Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, chief minister Omar Abdullah, Union home secretary Govind Mohan, Intelligence Bureau director Tapan Deka and other senior officers.
In Delhi, a cabinet meeting on security is likely to take place on Wednesday since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also arrived after cutting short his Saudi Arabia trip.
{{/usCountry}}In Delhi, a cabinet meeting on security is likely to take place on Wednesday since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also arrived after cutting short his Saudi Arabia trip.
{{/usCountry}}As soon as he landed, Modi was briefed at the airport by external affairs minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval regarding the Kashmir situation.
Both Modi and Shah have vowed to bring the perpetrators of the dastardly attack to justice.
“Those behind this heinous act will be brought to justice...they will not be spared! Their evil agenda will never succeed. Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger,” Modi posted on X on Tuesday.
Shah, echoing the sentiment, said, “Those involved in this dastardly act of terror will not be spared, and we will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences”.
While The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy outfit of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has claimed responsibility for the attack, intelligence agencies have assessed that TRF is just a ruse, and it is the skilled fighters of LeT which carry out these attacks in India.
Officials cited above said the National Investigation Agency will soon takeover the probe and has already sent a team to the attack site for preliminary assessment.