In the wake of the recent Uri attack, which left 17 Indian soldiers dead in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, the Indian security establishment is considering a range of responses in retaliation to the attack by jihadi militants.
On Sunday morning, four terrorists entered the Indian military base and fired shots with AK-47s and threw grenades, which killed the soldiers who were sleeping in the tents. More than 20 other soldiers were also injured in the attack and seven of them are critically ill.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval held a meeting on Sunday morning, which involved the top Army and intelligence officials. Doval, in the meeting, sought for alternatives to be prepared for presentation to PM Modi. The meeting included representatives of the Intelligence Bureau, the Directorate-General of Military Operations and the Research Analaysis Wing.
The Northern Command reportedly has initiated measuring plans to strike Pakistani Army positions that are suspected to have aided the infiltration of the terrorists through the Line of Control (LoC). The reports also state that the Centre is considering strikes on training camps across the LoC and is also considering targeting the commanders responsible for the attack in Uri with the use of intelligence assets.
"We will avenge the killings of our soldiers but we will do so based on cold-blooded professional military assessment, and on a timeline of our choosing, not one dictated by political imperatives or the prime-time news cycle" a top military commander was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
Various meetings of the intelligence services are scheduled to be held on Monday to review the information and all the aspects of the Uri attack. According to a senior military official, the main evidence in the attack yet has come from the Defence Intelligence Agency, which provided information suggesting that the attack had been carried out by the Jaish-e-Muhammad.
"Pakistan is a terrorist state and it should be identified and isolated as such," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, blaming Pakistan for the attack in Jammu and Kashmir. Singh added that the attackers were highly trained and heavily armed.
