Pahalgam terror attack: Amit Shah may visit Anantnag, hold high-level meet at Raj Bhavan

In Delhi, a cabinet meeting on security is likely to take place on Wednesday since PM Modi has also arrived after cutting short his Saudi Arabia trip.

Published on: Apr 23, 2025, 09:58:44 IST

By Neeraj Chauhan

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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.

Security forces escort an ambulance following a terror attack near Pahalgam. (REUTERS)

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.

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Chauhan
Neeraj Chauhan is a senior journalist with Hindustan Times and an investigative reporter specialising in national security, terrorism, organised crime, narcotics, corruption, financial crime and complex investigations. With over 21 years of experience across Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Pioneer, he has built deep expertise in India’s internal security and law-enforcement landscape. Neeraj has extensively covered India’s principal investigative, intelligence and security agencies, including the NIA, CBI, ED, IB, R&AW, MHA and other central security forces. His work has included deeply reported investigations into terrorism, terror financing, cross-border crime, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime, financial fraud and political and corporate corruption. He has reported on some of the most significant terror attacks and security developments in India over the past two decades, including the Delhi serial blasts, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and the recent Pahalgam attack. His reporting has also chronicled the rise and decline of the Indian Mujahideen, the activities and subsequent crackdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI), Islamist extremist networks, the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, insurgencies in the Northeast and Maoist violence. Some of Neeraj’s major breaking stories are in Aryan Khan drug case, Sushant Singh Rajput suicide, interception of a 3,000-kg Afghan heroin consignment worth about ₹21,000 crore at Mundra port, Sri Lanka easter bombings, Aarushi-Hemraj murders in Noida, 2G scam, coal block allocation scam, AgustWestland VVIP chopper deal and major bank frauds and extradition cases involving Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. His reporting is marked by an ability to cultivate sources, analyse confidential and complex documents, and follow investigations over several years—from the initial breakthrough to chargesheets, trials and international legal proceedings. He specialises in making complicated security and investigative developments accessible while examining their wider implications for governance and public policy. A Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme Fellow at the University of Westminster, Neeraj also spent time at the Financial Times as part of the fellowship. He was also a Robert Bosch Media Ambassadors India-Germany Fellow, studying at the University of Tübingen and working with Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin. He has previously taught investigative journalism and crime reporting as a guest faculty member at the Times School of Journalism. Over more than two decades, Neeraj has established himself as an authoritative voice on India’s national security and investigative landscape, with his reporting closely followed by officials, investigators, lawyers, policymakers and readers seeking insight into some of the country’s most complex and consequential developments.Read More

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