All-party meeting underway as govt briefs leaders on Pahalgam terror attack

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar leaves the Ministry of External Affairs at South Block for an all-party meeting convened by the Centre on the Pahalgam terror attack. Pic/PTI

The government on Thursday briefed leaders of various political parties on the Pahalgam terror attack and heard their views at an all-party meeting.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju were present from the government's side.

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Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha J P Nadda, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi were also present at the meeting chaired by Singh.

Earlier, the opposition had demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the meeting. Modi on Thursday was in Darbhanga in Bihar where he declared that the killers of Pahalgam will be pursued "to the ends of the Earth" and promised to "identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers."

The all-party meeting comes a day after the government announced a host of measures targeting Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack where terrorists killed at least 26 persons, mostly tourists, on Tuesday.

The decision to call an all-party meeting was taken on Wednesday, with Singh and Shah reaching out to various parties.

There has been a convention for calling an all-party meeting following an incident with serious repercussions related to national security, as was seen after the Pulwama terror attack in 2019 or during the India-China standoff in 2020.

It helps present a picture of national unity in moments of crises and allows the opposition leaders to convey their views to the government and be briefed in detail on the official position.

Targeting Pakistan following the attack in Pahalgam, India on Wednesday downgraded diplomatic ties with it and announced a raft of measures, including expulsion of Pakistani military attaches, suspension of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 and immediate shutting down of the Attari land-transit post.

The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

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