India is tackling terror attacks with new policy and process, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday on the anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, in an oblique reference to the 2016 surgical strike and the 2019 air strikes in Pakistan that demonstrated India’s hardened military stance.
Addressing the conference of presiding officers held virtually to mark Constitution Day, the Prime Minister said, “This date is also associated with the biggest terror attack in our country. In 2008, terrorists sent by Pakistan launched an attack on Mumbai that left many Indians and foreigners dead. I pay my tribute to all of them.”
“Today’s India is fighting terror attacks with new policies and process,” he said. Modi mentioned Pakistan as perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack and emphasised that the attacks will never be forgotten.
In 2016, the Modi government sent its forces across the Line of Control (LoC) to strike terrorist camps on Pakistani soil after a terror attack at an Indian Army camp in Jammu & Kashmir’s Uri left 19 soldiers dead. The political leadership took ownership of the surgical strike of September 2016 and announced India’s muscular military response to the world.
Three years later, the decision to carry out air strikes was taken within 24 hours of the Pulwama attack, even as the government gave the Indian Air Force (IAF) two weeks to select terror targets and launch air strikes against them.
{{/usCountry}}Three years later, the decision to carry out air strikes was taken within 24 hours of the Pulwama attack, even as the government gave the Indian Air Force (IAF) two weeks to select terror targets and launch air strikes against them.
{{/usCountry}}The new security policy of the government had also been a talking point for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 general election.
The Prime Minister also paid homage to the police personnel who died in the Mumbai attacks and to all the security forces who have “died while fighting and giving befitting replies to terrorists”.