Chandigarh, 7 May 

Pahalgam terror attack victim Lt Vinay Narwal's father, Rajesh Narwal, on Wednesday hailed India's response and said the Modi government has sent a strong message and now the perpetrators of the 22 April attack "will think 100 times" before repeating such attacks in the future.

Retaliating against the terror attack, Indian armed forces on early Wednesday carried out missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base in Muridke.

"When this (Pahalgam) incident happened, even then you (media) came to my home and asked what I expected from the government. My answer was that I had faith in our government. And today, the government has justified that trust," Rajesh Narwal told reporters at his residence in Karnal.

"I had said that such a thing (retaliatory strikes) has to be done so that no one dares to do such a cowardly act again...the strikes carried out on the terror targets (in Pak and PoK) will resonate in their minds forever.

Responding to a question on the mission's name, Rajesh said, "This operation has been aptly named Operation Sindoor."

Earlier, when Vinay Narwal's mother, Asha, was asked to comment about India's response to the Pahalgam incident, she told reporters, "It is a very good thing that (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi has avenged the (Pahalgam) attack. I am with them (the government), people are with them, and our entire family is with them."

"I want to tell our Army to give a befitting reply so that such incidents (like Pahalgam) do not occur again," she said and added that those who got martyred have got justice.

Married about three weeks ago, Narwal, 26, accompanied by his wife Himanshi, was on a honeymoon in south Kashmir's Pahalgam town when terrorists shot him at point blank, an incident in which 25 others, mostly tourists, were also killed.