Pak cannot weaken India: PM

​New Delhi: Pakistan cannot weaken India by orchestrating attacks and those responsible will pay a "very heavy price", Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned on Friday as echoes from the Pulwama terror strike rang across the country with families awaiting the bodies of their loved ones in coffins wrapped in the tricolour.

Security forces will be given a free hand to deal with terrorists, the prime minister said, a day after 43 CRPF soldiers were killed when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into their bus in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

"I want to tell the terror outfits and those aiding and abetting them that they have made a big mistake. They will have to pay a very heavy price for their actions. Let me assure the nation that those behind this attack, the perpetrators of this attack will be punished,” Modi said at a function to flag off the Vande Bharat Express, India's fastest train from Delhi to Varanasi.

In his hard-hitting speech here, Modi said the "blood of the people is boiling" and forces behind the act of terrorism will definitely be punished. "Security forces have been given complete freedom, the blood of the people is boiling...Our neighbouring country, which has been isolated internationally, thinks such terror attacks can destabilise us, but their plans will not materialise," Modi said.

Addressing a public meeting in Jhansi later in the day, the prime minister again did not name Pakistan but said the attack was an outcome of its desperation as it is in a bad shape and has been forced to go to different countries with a "begging bowl" to meet even its daily expenses.