In first comments after Pahalgam attack, Modi spells it out: ‘We will pursue terrorists to the ends of the Earth’

And switching to English which he rarely does in the middle of a public speech, Modi, addressing the international community, said, “Today, from the soil of Bihar, I say 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. India’s spirit will never be broken by terrorism.”

“Terrorism will not go unpunished. 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 this time… The punishment will be significant and stringent, which these terrorists would have never even thought about.”

Warning the attackers and those who hatched the conspiracy, he said, “Mein bahut spasht shabdon mein kehna chahta hoon. Jinhone ye hamla kiya hai un aatankiyon ko aur is hamle ki saazish rachne waalon ko unki kalpana se bhi badee saza milegi. Sazaa mil kar ke rahegi. Ab aatankiyon ki bachi kuchi zameen ko bhi mitti mein milane ka samay aa gaya hai. 140 karor Bharatiyon ki ichhashakti ab aatank ke aakaaon ki kamar tod kar rahegi (I want to say something very clearly. Those who carried out this terror attack and those who hatched the conspiracy will get a punishment beyond their imagination. They shall be punished. Now, the time has come to raze whatever is left of the haven of terrorists. The resolve of 140 crore Indians will now break the backs of the masters of terror).”

Modi, who began his address by asking the crowd to observe a minute of silence for the victims, noted the diverse backgrounds of the 26 people killed, 25 of whom were tourists, and said the entire nation was united in grief and anger.

“Among those killed, someone spoke Bangla, someone was Marathi, someone spoke Kannada, someone was Odia, someone was Gujarati, and someone was the son of Bihar. Today, from Kargil to Kanyakumari, we are united in our grief over their demise. We share the anger. This attack was not just on unarmed tourists; the enemies of the nation have dared to attack the soul of Bharat,” he said.

He told the families of the victims that the whole nation stands by them. “The whole nation shares the grief of the families of those affected and stands by them. The government is trying its best to ensure all our family members who are injured recover quickly. In this terror attack, some lost their son, some lost their brother, and some lost their life partner.”