A day after the deadly terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, which claimed 26 lives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting on Wednesday to assess the situation and deliberate on the government's strategy.
The meeting was attended by key ministers, including Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, along with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and senior bureaucrats.
Amit Shah briefs PM Modi on the attack
Shah briefed Prime Minister Modi on the Pahalgam terror attack and discussed the necessary measures to be implemented in its aftermath.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, although a member of the CCS, was unable to attend the meeting as she is returning from the United States, having cut short her official visit in light of the attack.
Others present at the high-level meeting included 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. Foreign Secretary Vikram Mistry was also part of the meeting.
Earlier in the day, Amit Shah visited Baisaran in Pahalgam, the site where terrorists struck on Tuesday evening, as well as the hospital where some of the injured were being treated.