India won’t back down, will pursue terrorists to the ends of earth: Modi

India will pursue terrorists to the ends of the earth and the nation’s spirit will never be broken by terrorism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday as he vowed to punish those responsible for the deadly terror strike in Kashmir that killed 26 people two days ago.

In his first public comments since the deadly strike, Modi spoke briefly in English – a rarity when the prime minister is in the country – and delivered a ringing and stern warning to both terrorists and their backers in an address that spoke to the world and especially to Pakistan, which is accused of training and sponsoring the attackers who carried out the worst terror strike in the country in nearly two decades.

“Friends, today from the soil of Bihar, I say it to the whole world: India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the earth,” Modi said in Bihar’s Madhubani district as part of the Panchayati Raj day celebrations.

“India’s spirit will never be broken by terrorism .”

The PM began the speech by observing a minute’s silence to pay homage to the victims of the attack that has rocked Kashmir, galvanised the country, and triggered a storm of global condemnation.

“Every effort will be made to ensure that justice is done. The entire nation is firm in this resolve. Everyone who believes in humanity is with us. I thank the people of various countries and their leaders who have stood with us in these times,” Modi said .

His comments came a day after India unveiled a raft of punitive diplomatic measures against Pakistan, suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, downgrading bilateral ties, and shutting down the Attari checkpost, as it hit back at Islamabad.

Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba’s proxy, the Resistance Front (TRF), has claimed responsibility for the attack that coincided with US vice president JD Vance’s visit to India.

“The attack was not on the innocent tourists, but on the soul of the nation. They dared to attack the soul of India. Now time has come to decimate whatever influence terrorism may have been left with,” Modi said .

In a message to Pakistan without naming the country, Modi said that the terrorists who carried out the attack and those who hatched the conspiracy will be punished.

“The will of 140-crore Indians will ensure that the backbone of the attackers and their patrons is broken once and for all…Punishment will definitely be served,” he said.

Paying condolences to the victims and their families, Modi said citizens across the country were in mourning over the brutal killings. He said people lost their sons, brothers and husbands from all over the country. “If one lost a son, another lost a brother and yet another lost a spouse. Someone spoke Bangla, someone Kannada, someone Odia, Someone was from Gujarat and there was one also from Bihar. The pain and anger is the same across the length and breadth of the nation,” he said.

“Our sorrow and anger are the same from Kargil to Kanyakumari…. Terrorism will not go unpunished. We will hound them.”

Peace and security are the most necessary conditions for fast development, he added. The PM was addressing the Panchayati Raj representatives at Bideshwar Asthan in Jhanjharpur, Madhubani on the occasion of Panchayati Raj Day. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was also present on the dias and gave away awards to top performing panchayats from various parts of the country.

But the event was overshadowed by events of Tuesday.

A group of heavily armed terrorists emerged out of the woods at around 2pm on Tuesday and indiscriminately started firing at around 500 tourists who were present on the lush Baisaran grasslands near Pahalgam town in Kashmir. At least 26 people died – all men, 25 of them tourists, and24 of them Hindus– in the attack that was reminiscent of the heydays of militancy in the 1990s and 2000s and the worst to rock Kashmir since the abrogation of the region’s special status in 2019.

Located atop a hill, the meadow is ringed by snow-capped mountains and dotted with pine forests. The top sightseeing destination -- known in local parlance as mini Switzerland -- is accessible only by foot or on horses. The attack came weeks before the Amarnath Yatra commences on July 3 and amid a record rise in tourism in the Valley.

On Wednesday, New Delhi announced a string of retaliatory measures decided at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Modi. At a late-evening briefing, foreign secretary Vikram Misri announced the measures that represented the first official response to the worst terror strike on civilians since the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, and clearly spelt out Pakistan as the target.

Security agencies have named five people as responsible for the attack – three Pakistani nationals Asif Fauji (code name Moosa), Suleman Shah (code name Yunus) and Abu Talha (code name Asif). Two other Valley based operatives — Adil Guri, a local from Bijbehara in Anantnag who went to Pakistan in 2018, and Ahsan, a resident of Pulwama who also went to Pakistan in 2018 -- were also identified. Investigators have also said they have tracked the digital footprint of the terrorists to a safe house in Pakistan.

More measures could follow, an eventuality hinted at by Union defence minister Rajnath Singh who said India will not only hunt down the people who perpetrated the attack but will also trace those “sitting behind the scenes” who conspired to carry out the strike.

The last big retaliatory strike by India against Pakistan was the 2019 Balakot air strike, which came 12 days after the Pulwama attack; the 2016 surgical strike came 10 days after the Uri attack.