Home minister Amit Shah on Thursday vowed retribution for the Pahalgam terror attack, stressing that “har vyakti ko chun chun ke jawab bhi milega, jawab bhi diya jayega (every person will be identified and given a befitting reply)”.
Shah was speaking at an event in Delhi to inaugurate a statue of Bodofa Upendranath Brahma, former president of the All Bodo Students’ Union. This was his first public reaction to the April 22 terror attack.
“By killing our 27 citizens, the terrorists should not think they have won the war. I want to tell all those who spread terror — this is not the end of the war,” Shah said, before promising to punish each and every perpetrator by appearing to borrow the famous
Sholay dialogue.
Two days after the attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had at a rally in Bihar vowed revenge, stressing India’s resolve to “identify, trace and punish every terrorist and their backers” responsible for the Pahalgam strike. In his monthly radio address, Modi had said the “blood of every Indian was boiling”, again promising to avenge the attack.
Shah, who in the past had claimed that all was well in Kashmir, hailed Modi’s decisive leadership and said his government would spare none. “If someone, by carrying out a cowardly attack, thinks that it is their big victory, then understand one thing — this is the Narendra Modi government, no one will be spared,” he said.
Shah said that not only 140 crore Indians but the whole world was standing with India in the fight against terrorism. “I want to iterate the resolve that until terrorism is eradicated, our fight will continue and those who have committed it will certainly be given appropriate punishment,” he said.
Modi has also held a series of high-level security meetings and is learnt to have granted “full operational freedom” to the armed forces.