Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given India’s military “operational freedom” to respond to a deadly attack in Kashmir last week, a senior government source told AFP Tuesday. A week after the deadliest attack on civilians in the contested region in years, Modi on Tuesday held a closed-door meeting with army and security chiefs, during which he told the armed forces that they had the “complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets and timing of our response to the terror attack”, said the government source, who was not authorised to speak to the media. The government released video images of a stern-faced Modi meeting with army chiefs, as well as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Last week, Modi vowed to pursue those who carried out the attack in the tourist hotspot of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, and those who had supported it. “I say to the whole world: India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backer,” he said on Thursday. “We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth”. The bellicose statements have prompted worries of a rapid spiral into military action, with several nations, including neighbouring China, calling for restraint and dialogue. Last week, The New York Times reported that India “appears to be building a case for military action” against Pakistan since the armed attack in Indian-occupied Kashmir. In a dispatch from New Delhi, the newspaper said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to more than a dozen world leaders since April 22 , but that effort is “largely not about rallying help to de-escalate India’s dangerous face-off with Pakistan.” The report said the situation in the region remains “volatile”, noting that In Kashmir, Indian forces have also begun a sweeping clampdown, arresting hundreds, as they continue their hunt for the perpetrators. Earlier, India declared its intention to disrupt the flow of water to Pakistan under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. It also ordered the immediate departure of some staff members at Pakistan’s diplomatic mission as well as of Pakistani citizens visiting India. Pakistan, for its part, has said it will suspend participation in bilateral treaties, including the Simla agreement that affects the “line of control” in the disputed Kashmir region. Anti-Muslim sentiment in India is also intensifying, with Kashmiri students studying in other Indian cities in particular facing widespread harassment and many of them feeling compelled to return home, Times Correspondent Mujib Mashal said in the report.