PM chairs key security meet

5 outcomes at CCS

• Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be held in abeyance

• Integrated Check Post Attari will be closed with immediate effect

• Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme visas

•Defence/Military, Naval and Air Advisors in Pak High Commission in Delhi are declared Persona Non Grata

•The overall strength of the High Commissions will be brought down to 30 from the present 55

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is chairing a crucial meet of the Cabinet Committee of Security or CCS to discuss the shocking terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam that has cost 26 lives and formulate India's response to it. Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has already issued warning that there will be retaliation, which will be appropriate and swift.

Union Minister Amit Shah, who was in Srinagar earlier today, reached the venue after landing in Delhi. Union Defence Minister, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar are also attending the meeting. Doval has again briefed the Prime Minister about the current situation on the ground.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is also part of the CCS, could not attend the meeting as she is on her way back from the United States after cutting short her official visit in the wake of the terror attack.

Officials present at the meeting were Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misry, besides the Prime Minister's two Principal Secretaries P K Mishra and Shaktikanta Das.

Prime Minister Modi returned early Wednesday from Saudi Arabia, cutting short his visit. He held a meeting at the airport soon after his arrival where he discussed the J-K terror attack with Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.

On Tuesday evening, terrorists had opened fire at the meadow of Baisaran -- a tourist hotspot near Kashmir's Pahalgam. They had asked the tourists about their religion and then shot the men in the head.

Twenty-six people -- tourists from 14 states and two foreign nationals -- were killed in what was the deadliest attack in the Kashmir Valley since the 2019 Pulwama strike.

The Resistance Front (TRF), a terrorist group seen as a proxy for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the attack, which has sent shock waves across the country.

Earlier in the day, the Defence Minister issued a strong warning. Without naming Pakistan, he said, "I assure people that the Government of India will take every step that is necessary and appropriate. And we will not only get those who have carried out this incident, we will also reach out to those who, sitting behind the scenes, have conspired to commit such nefarious acts on the soil of India".

PM Modi, who cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia and was back in Delhi this morning, has condemned the attack and vowed to bring the guilty to book. In an emotional post on X last evening, Mr Modi said, "Those behind this heinous act will not be spared... their evil agenda will never succeed. Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakeable..."

Earlier, after two major terror attacks at Uri and Pulwama, India had hit back, conducting a surgical strike and air strikes on terror camps across the Line of Control.