Days after the terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam that left at least 26 civilians dead, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi arrived in Kashmir on Friday to review security arrangements in the Himalayan federal territory.
The army chief is likely to visit the site of the deadly terrorist attack in Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district amid concerns of fresh tensions with long-time rival and neighbour Pakistan.
Army Chief Meets J&K LG
General Dwivedi also held a meeting with J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who asked the army chief to take effective steps not only to bring those responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack to justice but also to intensify efforts to crush the infrastructure of terrorism and its ecosystem.
The meeting, held in Srinagar, reviewed security mechanisms in place, various short-term, long-term measures and integration and coordination among the various security agencies, according to reports.
Pakistan’s Involvement
India has said there were Pakistani elements in Tuesday’s attack, when terrorists shot 26 men in Pahalgam’s scenic Baisaran meadow, and Islamabad has denied any involvement.
The nuclear-armed nations have unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with India keeping a critical river water-sharing treaty in abeyance and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines, among other steps.
The army general’s Kashmir visit comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to chase the perpetrators to “the ends of the earth”.
Impact On Air Traffic
India’s top two carriers, IndiGo and Air India, said some of their international routes, including to the United States and Europe, would be affected by the closure of Pakistani airspace, leading to extended flight times and diversions.
There have been calls for and fears that India could conduct a military strike in Pakistani territory as it did in 2019 in retaliation for a suicide bombing in J&K’s Pulwama that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police.
Several leaders of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have called for military action against Pakistan.
The two countries both claim Muslim-majority Kashmir in full, but rule it in part.
India, a Hindu majority nation, has long accused Islamic Pakistan of aiding separatists who have battled security forces in its part of the territory – accusations Islamabad denies.
‘Cross-Border Linkages’
Indian officials say Tuesday’s terror attack had “cross-border linkages”.
Kashmir’s police, in notices identifying three people “involved” in the attack, said two of them were Pakistani nationals.
Those killed in the attack belonged to all parts of India, Modi said in a speech on Wednesday, even as television channels showed images of funerals taking place in several states across the country.
Pictures of women wailing and people praying in front of burning pyres, as many of the 26 dead were cremated, were splashed across most national dailies on Friday.
Suspects’ Houses Demolished
Early on Friday, authorities in Jammu and Kashmir demolished the houses of two suspected militants, one of whom is an accused in Tuesday’s attack, an official said.
Governments in many states ruled by Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have torn down what they say are illegal houses or shops of people accused of crimes, many of them Muslims, in what has come to be popularly known as “instant, bulldozer justice”.
In an unrelated incident, sporadic firing was reported along the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Indian and Pakistani Kashmir, the Indian army said on Friday, despite a 2021 ceasefire which has been violated several times.
(With inputs from Reuters and IBNS)
