India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday promised a strong response to a car bombing in Kashmir that killed at least 40 paramilitary forces that his government blamed on Pakistan, ratcheting up tensions with the nuclear-rival.
The attack on a military convoy in Jammu and Kashmir where India has been battling an insurgency was the worst in decades and comes just months before Modi's ruling Hindu nationalists face a tight general election.
Modi said during flag-off of country's first engineless train Vande Bharat Express, formally known as Train 18, from New Delhi railway station, “the terrorist outfits and their patrons have committed a huge mistake and will have to pay a huge price for this.”
Our security forces have been given complete independence, Modi added.
“I want to tell the terrorist outfits and their patrons that they have committed a huge mistake and they will have to pay a big price for this,” Modi said.
The Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility soon after a suicide bomber rammed his car laden with explosives into a bus carrying Central Reserve Police Force personnel on Thursday (February 14).
The Indian government said it had incontrovertible evidence of Pakistan's involvement in the attack. Islamabad rejected the suggestion it was linked to the attack.
The bilateral trade between India and Pakistan stands at $2 billion per year and Modi facing a tough election is likely to come under pressure for a more muscular response.
Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan. The neighbors both rule parts of the region while claiming the entire territory as theirs.
The last major attack in Kashmir was in 2016 when militants raided an Indian army camp in Uri, killing 20 soldiers. Modi responded with a surgical strike on suspected militant camps across the border in Pakistan Kashmir weeks later.
Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the latest Kashmir attack a matter of "grave concern".
But in a brief statement early on Friday, it added: "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian government and media circles that seek to link the attack to the State of Pakistan without investigations."
The White House urged Pakistan in a statement "to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil". It said the attack strengthens the US resolve to step up counter-terrorism cooperation with India.