New Delhi: The Union government has announced a major revamp of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), with former Chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Alok Joshi, appointed as the new head of the board. In addition to Joshi, six new members have been inducted into the board, bringing in a wealth of experience in military and police operations.
The new members of the NSAB include retired military officers, such as Former Western Air Commander Air Marshal P.M. Sinha, former Southern Army Commander Lieutenant General A.K. Singh, and Rear Admiral Monty Khanna. The board also includes two retired members of the Indian Police Service (IPS), Rajiv Ranjan Verma and Manmohan Singh, as well as B. Venkatesh Varma, a retired Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer.
This restructuring of the NSAB comes in the aftermath of the devastating Pahalgam terrorist attack, which claimed the lives of 26 innocent civilians, including one Nepalese national, and left many others injured.
Following the Pahalgam attack, a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) was convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence. The meeting was focused on security preparedness in response to the attack. In addition to the CCS meeting, two other key cabinet committee meetings—the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)—were also held.
A cabinet briefing is scheduled for 3:00 PM today to provide further updates on the government’s response to the tragic incident. The last meeting of the CCS, held on April 23, had already discussed the details of the Pahalgam attack, in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were killed.
