Modi visits Pathankot airbase

Takes stock of ground realities

PATHANKOT: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on Saturday as he took stock of the ground reality in the aftermath of an attack on the strategic facility by militants.

Modi spent about 90 minutes at the airbase, and Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and National Security Guard officials briefed him about the attack and the counter-offensive launched by the forces, Hindustan Times reported.

Modi also went around the scene of the attack that exposed the chinks in the armour of the Indian security establishment and was shown the huge cache of weapons and ammunition recovered from the perpetrators.

The terrorists launched an attack on the Pathankot airbase last Saturday. The siege continued for three days, and ended after security forces killed all the six terrorists involved in the siege. Seven Indian security personnel were also killed in the operation.

PM Modi was taken around the Military Engineering Service Yard where the militants met with the first resistance by security forces. He also visited two-storey billet for airmen’s accommodation where the last two terrorists were killed after the structure was blown up by security forces.

“Noted with satisfaction the decision-making & its execution, the considerations that went into our tactical response,” the official handle of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) tweeted after Modi’s visit to the airbase.

Modi also undertook an aerial survey of the forward positions along the India-Pakistan border. An official press release said in Delhi that National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Army chief Dalbir Singh and chiefs of NSG and BSF were present during the visit.

Officials of the NIA, which has taken over the probe into the attack, also briefed the prime minister on the progress of the investigation.