NEW DELHI, May 5: The Union Home Ministry has asked several states to conduct mock drills on May 7 amid rising tensions with Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack, government sources said on Monday.
The measures to be taken during the drill include operationalisation of air raid warning sirens and training of civilians on civil defence aspects to protect themselves in the event of a “hostile attack”, they said.
The other measures are provisions of crash blackout measures, early camouflaging of vital plants and installations and updation of evacuation plans and their rehearsal.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been holding a series of high-level meetings, including with top defence functionaries, as India weighs its options for countermeasures against the April 22 terror attack which left 26 civilians, mostly tourists, dead.
Modi has vowed to pursue the perpetrators and those part of the conspiracy to the “ends of the earth” to inflict punishment on them “beyond their imagination”.
Meanwhile, defencesecretary Rajesh Kumar Singh on Monday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is understood to have briefed him about the combat readiness of the armed forces against the backdrop of increasing tensions between India and Pakistan over the Pahalgam terror attack.
The meeting came a day after Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A P Singh met Prime Minister Modi.
Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi had on Saturday apprised the prime minister on the overall situation in the critical sea lanes in the Arabian Sea.
While the Indian Navy is maintaining a high alert in the Arabian Sea in view of Pakistan’s naval drills, the frontline fighter jets of the Indian Air Force have been carrying out long-range sorties.
There is no official word on the prime minister’s meeting with the defence secretary.
Citing “cross-border linkages” to the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians, India has promised severe punishment to those involved in the strike.
The prime minister’s meetings with Navy Chief Admiral Tripathi, Air Chief Marshal A P Singh and Defence Secretary Singh came amid speculations about India’s possible military strikes against Pakistan to avenge the dastardly attack.
In a high-level meeting with the top defence brass, Prime Minister Modi on April 29 gave the armed forces “complete operational freedom” to decide on the mode, targets and timing of the response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
Modi also emphasised the national resolve to deal a “crushing blow to terrorism”.
Amid the escalating tensions between the two sides, the Pakistan military has been resorting to “unprovoked firings” using small arms from their posts across the LoC in the last few days.
The Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked firings on Sunday night as well. “During the night of May 4 and 5, Pakistan Army posts resorted to unprovoked small arms fire across the LoC in areas opposite Kupwara, Baramulla, Poonch, Rajauri, Mendhar, Naushera, Sunderbani, and Akhnoor in Jammu and Kashmir,” said a Indian military source.
India on April 23 announced a raft of punitive measures against Pakistan including suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, shutting down of the only operation land border crossing at Attari and downgrading of diplomatic ties in view of cross-border links to the attack.
In response, Pakistan shut its airspace to Indian airliners and suspended all trade with India, including through third countries. Pakistan rejected India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty and said any move to stop the flow of water will be seen as an “act of war”. (PTI)
