Union home minister Amit Shah (File photo)
NEW DELHI: Operation Sindoor and Operation Mahadev, which saw Indian security personnel avenge the Pahalgam terror attack with targeted hits on Pakistani territory as well as the elimination of three Pakistani terrorists who had killed 26 innocent Indians in cold blood, have sent a clear message to the Pakistan-based terror masterminds about “the consequences of playing with lives of Indian citizens,” home minister Amit Shah said here on Wednesday. The comments came during Shah’s meeting here with Operation Mahadev bravehearts from the Indian Army, CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir police; during which he felicitated them on the successful neutralisation of Pahalgam mastermind Suleiman alias Faisal Jatt and his accomplices Afghan and Jibran, in an encounter in Dachigam forest area on the outskirts of Srinagar. “Technical analysis by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) conclusively established that the terrorists killed in Operation Mahadev were the ones who had unleashed the mayhem in Pahalgam,” said Shah. As part of Operation Mahadev, Indian Army para commandos, along with CRPF and J&K Police, had on July 28 eliminated the three Pahalgam attackers after cornering them in their temporary hideout, ending a long and painstaking manhunt to deliver justice to the 26 victims of Pahalgam attack. “I congratulate all the security personnel on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the public, for having fortified the sense of security among countrymen,” Shah told them. He noted that the personnel had shown the world that terrorists, irrespective of the change in tactics and strategy, cannot escape unscatched after harming Indian interests.Stating that Pahalgam attack was an attempt to derail the ‘Kashmir mission’ — defined by restoration of normalcy and boosting of development in the Valley — when tourism was at its peak, the home minister said the people of India were content with Operation Sindoor but this satisfaction turned into self-confidence with Operation Mahadev. “This trust in security forms the foundation of aspirations to see India take the lead globally, in every field,” said the home minister. Shah underlined that J&K police now take the lead in joint anti-terror operations conducted along with the Army and CAPFs in Kashmir.“Operation Sindoor and Operation Mahadev instilled a sense of joy and enthusiasm among those in power and the Opposition alike; both the sides expressed gratitude towards the forces,” Shah told the Operation Mahadev heroes.
