Pakistan will pay a heavy price: Arun Jaitey on Pulwama attack

In a direct attack on Pakistan, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that security forces will ensure that Islamabad pays a heavy price for the Pulwama terror attack in which nearly 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives.

"Our security forces will ensure that those who have indulged in this act will have to pay a heavy price for it," Jaitley told ANI.

"There is incontrovertible evidence of Pakistani hand in this gruesome attack. The Prime Minister also decided that the Most Favoured Nation Status to Pakistan stands withdrawn," he said.

These statements from Jaitley came after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day.

"The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) made a review and an assessment of the situation on the ground. It has requested the Ministry of External Affairs to take all possible diplomatic measures in order to ensure that there is complete isolation of Pakistan from the international community for having actively participated and encouraged the act of terrorism," he further stated.

"The Ministry of External Affairs will make an effort to mobilise the international community so that a consensus can be reached at the United Nations for approving the comprehensive convention on international relations which has been pending there since 1986," he added.

"There is some discussion going on between the nations on the definition of the word terrorism but we will try to form the consensus on that issue at the international level soon. Meanwhile, our security forces will certainly ensure that the internal peace and calm is maintained and no such incidents take place in the near future," Jaitley stated.

"CCS observed two minutes silence in memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice for the country and placed it on record the gratitude of the whole nation, and expressed condolences for the bereaved families," he added.

The CRPF personnel were killed after a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into a bus carrying them.

The bus, carrying 42 CRPF personnel, was extensively damaged in the blast, which was followed by firing on the vehicle.

Soon after, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which is based in Pakistan and backed by the Pakistani administration, claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was carried out by its suicide bomber.