PM meets Services chiefs to discuss Uri response

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today met with the three Services chiefs, including the Army, Navy and the Air Force, to assess the prevailing security situation amidst continued tension following Pakistan's terror act in Uri.

Apart from Chief of Army Staff General Dalbir Singh Suhag, Vice-Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Karambir Singh and Air Chief Marshall Arup Raha, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was also present at the meeting at the Prime Minister's residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg in New Delhi.

Besides discussing the prevailing security situation in the country, discussions were also held on India's response to the Uri attack, in which New Delhi has held Islamabad responsible.

The prime minister later left for Kerala to attend the Bhartiya Janata Party's national conclave. Later in the day, PM Modi will address party office-bearers in Kozhikode and is expected to break his silence on the government's response to the Uri terror attack.

Modi is expected to spell out India's response to Pakistan's terror act in Uri in his first speech after the Uri attack, even as both Modi and the government looked to be shifting away from mere rhetoric.

Earlier, defence minister Manohar Parrikar had asserted that the prime minister's promise to punish those behind the Uri terror attack would not remain just words.

A militant attack on an army base in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, on Sunday last, had claimed the lives of eighteen soldiers. While 17 soldiers died on Sunday, one critically injured soldier succumbed to his injuries on Thursday, pushing the toll to 18.

The armed militants lobbed grenades into the Army tents and barracks, while the soldiers were sleeping. The ensuing fire led to a large number of casualties. Twenty-eight injured soldiers are being treated at a military hospital.

For BJP, the terror strike and Pakistan are now the only "important issue" and wants more to be done to bring the neighbour to book. The party wants to make sure that the Modi government does not stop at what it has done at the UNGA to counter Pakistan, it wants real action - a harsh counter-offensive against Islamabad's terror links.

BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said at a press conference in Kozhikode, "All important issues will be taken up at the meeting as all top leaders will be here," adding, "You will get what you are waiting for."