PM Modi, Doval Hold Urgent Security Talks as India Ramps Up Response to Pahalgam Attack
In a demonstration of increasing national security protocols, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the second time in 24 hours on Tuesday, after the Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir terror attack that killed 26 civilians. The April 22 attack led to back-to-back high-level deliberations.
The 40-minute long meeting was hosted at the official residence of Prime Minister and had preceded a chain of briefings that included chief defence and security officials. One day ago, Doval along with Home Secretary Govind Mohan had participated in a top-level security meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister.
In the past few days, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh and Air Chief Air Chief Marshal A P Singh have called on the Prime Minister to discuss changing threats. Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi also met Modi to brief him on maritime security issues in the Arabian Sea. These meetings indicate India's increased emphasis on national defence preparedness.
In a forceful message to the military, Modi recently gave them 'complete operational freedom' to decide on the timing, mode, and character of India's retaliation for the Pahalgam attack. He stressed the nation's determination to give a 'crushing blow to terrorism'.
Alongside military preparedness, the Union Home Ministry is stepping up civil preparedness. On Wednesday, May 7, all states and Union Territories will hold elaborate mock drills, touching 244 civil defence districts. The drills involve sounding the air-raid sirens, evacuating people as a drill, communication links with the Indian Air Force being tested, and control rooms mobilized.
The Directorate General of Home Guards, Civil Defence, and Fire Services emphasized the importance of being prepared with regard to 'new and compound threats'. Mock exercises will percolate up to the level of villages and will engage wardens of civil defence, home guards, NCC, NSS, NYKS, and school students.
Government leaders insist that the nation has to stay at peak civil defence all the time since the security mechanism is on stand-by after the Pahalgam attack.
