Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to New Delhi early Wednesday, abruptly ending his two-day diplomatic visit to Saudi Arabia, in response to a horrific terror attack that left 26 people dead in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.
Modi, who had been holding high-level talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, skipped a scheduled state dinner on Tuesday night to address the developing crisis back home. He was initially slated to return late Wednesday evening.
The attack unfolded around 2:30 PM on Tuesday at Baisaran meadow, a scenic tourist hotspot near Pahalgam, when a group of terrorists—clad in military fatigues—opened fire on unsuspecting tourists. Among the dead are two foreign nationals, marking this as the deadliest strike in the Valley since the 2019 Pulwama attack.
Responsibility for the massacre was swiftly claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), believed to be a shadow outfit of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The scale and audacity of the attack triggered an emergency meeting at Jeddah's Ritz-Carlton, attended by PM Modi, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and senior Indian officials.
As the nation reels from the shock, a large-scale counter-terror operation is underway in Kashmir to hunt down those responsible. The incident has reignited concerns over regional security and cross-border terrorism, with strong condemnation pouring in from across the political spectrum.