PM chairs 2nd CCS meet; security board revamped

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired the second meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) at his residence, even as the government approved the reconstitution of the National Security Advisory Board.

The two-hour CCS meeting is learnt to have formally put its seal of approval on the full operational autonomy which the PM granted to the Indian military to calibrate and decide on the national response to the Pakistan-sponsored attack that killed 26 persons in Pahalgam on April 22.

Key changes in military top brass

• Lt Gen Pratik Sharma will take over as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Northern Command
• Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari has been appointed as IAF Vice Chief, succeeding Air Marshal SP Dharkar
• Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit will be the new Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee

The CCS meeting was attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Also present were National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and principal secretaries to PM PK Mishra and Shanktikanta Das.

After the CCS meeting, the government also approved the reconstitution of the National Security Advisory Board appointing former R&AW chief Alok Joshi as Chairman.

Ex-Western Air Commander Air Marshal PM Sinha, former Southern Army Commander Lt Gen AK Singh and Rear Admiral Monty Khanna of the reconstituted panel are retired officers. Former cops Rajiv Ranjan Verma and Manmohan Singh and former IFS officers DB Venkatesh Varma and Pankaj Saran are also on the panel, which further features AB Mathur, Prof V Kamakoti of IIT Madras, BS Murthy, Air Marshal Pankaj Sinha (retd), Devendra Sharma, Bimal Patel, R Radhakrishnan and Vice Admiral PS Cheema (retd) as members.

The principal function of the board, a group of 15 government and private experts, is to undertake long-term analysis and to provide perspectives on the national security issues to the National Security Council and to recommend measures and solutions and policy options on the issues referred to it by the National Security Council. The board advises the NSA.

Earlier, the CCS is learnt to have reviewed the progress made on retaliatory measures announced so far against Pakistan, including revocation of visas to Pakistani nationals and suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty. It was also briefed on the status of NIA investigations into the attack with the role of former Pakistan Army para commander Hashim Musa clearly established, linking Pakistan with the dastardly attack and the role of several locals emerging.

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