India's Modi gives army freedom to act as tensions rise with Pakistan after deadly terror attack

Modi is set to convene another meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday to coordinate India's next moves.

Modi recently said India will "identify, track and punish every terrorist, their handlers and their backers," in a post on X. "We will pursue them to the ends of the earth," Modi added.

India's Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters that the country has mobilized its forces because retaliation is "something which is imminent now."

Pakistan has denied any involvement in the attack.

The attack, which killed 26 people and was the worst terrorist attack on India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, has increased tensions on the Indian subcontinent between two nuclear-armed powers.

"An Indian military response is likely reflecting the more muscular foreign policy of the Modi government as noted by its actions following previous terrorist attacks," Chietigj Bajpaee, senior research fellow for South Asia at Chatham House, told Fox News Digital. 

"However, this is easier said than done given the possibility of accidental escalation" and a "broader tit-for-tat military escalation cannot be ruled out," he warned.

Although there was limited outreach from Modi in the past, two rounds of escalation in 2016 and 2019 have soured relations.

Sadanand Dhume, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital that Modi is facing pressure to mount a tough response.

Pakistan said the impediment to the free flow of water would constitute an act of war.

The rivalry between India and Pakistan dates back to the partition of the former British colony of India in 1947, with the establishment of Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-majority India. The partition plan also provided the contested regions of Jammu and Kashmir with the opportunity to choose if they wanted to join either newly established nation. Kashmir ultimately decided to join India in exchange for help against invading Pakistani militias, with India and Pakistan fighting three wars over the territory since 1947.

India and Pakistan have an estimated combined 342 nuclear warheads, according to the Arms Control Association.