Pulwama terror attack: India mourns, gives free hand to forces

New Delhi:  In a strong warning to Pakistan over the Pulwama terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday declared those responsible will pay a “very heavy price” and said the security forces have been given a free hand to decide on the timing, place and nature of their response to the carnage that left 44 CRPF men dead.

As the shock after the Thursday attack by a Jaish suicide bomber resonated across the country with families awaiting the bodies of their loved ones in coffins wrapped in Tricolour, Mr Modi said the “blood of the people is boiling”, adding the terror outfits and those aiding and abetting them have made a “big mistake”.

An IAF transport aircraft brought the coffins to the national capital from Srinagar on Friday night and they will be later taken to the homes of the victims.

“A befitting reply will be given to the perpetrators of the heinous attack and their patrons,” asserted Mr Modi, a day after the bomber rammed his vehicle laden with explosives into a CRPF bus in a convoy in Pulwama district.

The Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of 78 vehicles in one of the deadliest terror attacks in the border state.

After the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security, finance minister Arun Jaitley told reporters that the ministry of external affairs will take all possible diplomatic steps to isolate Pakistan.

Hours later, the government reached out to the international community, most of whom has univocally condemned the attack by the UN-proscribed JeM, in a major diplomatic offensive against Pakistan.