Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election rally in Sonipat on Wednesday. Photo: PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election rally in Sonipat on Wednesday. Photo: PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reported to have given the security apparatus a "free hand" in dealing with Pakistani troops, a brief that was picked up by Home Minister Rajnath Singh when he asked the Border Security Force to return Pakistan's firing with full force.

"Everything will be sorted out soon," Modi said when asked about the ceasefire violations, one of the worst since India and Pakistan signed a ceasefire agreement in 2003.

The Prime Minister is expected to hold a late-night meeting on Wednesday with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and senior defence officers over continued ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops since Monday. Doval met senior defence officials earlier on Wednesday to assess the situation along the Line of Control.

At least seven people have died and over 30 injured since Monday in the latest violation in Jammu and Kashmir, forcing thousands of residents in the border areas to take shelter in Army camps and other places. Reports said at least 15 Pakistanis were killed in retaliatory fire by Indian troops.

The BSF on Wednesday said it has captured a 80-year-old Pakistani national from the RS Pura sector in Jammu and Kashmir. The man is reported to be mentally unstable.

BJP, Congress exchange barbs over ceasefire violation

The BJP chief Amit Shah, during a rally in poll-bound Haryana, said, "Earlier, Pakistan used to start as well end the firing against India. Now Pakistan begins it and India ends it."

"Pakistan is no more Pakistan. It has become Shaitanistan and Atankistan," the BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Wednesday.

However, the opposition Congress attacked the Centre over the escalation in tension along the border. Party vice-president Rahul Gandhi attacked Modi, saying he has done nothing to stop the deaths on the border despite "many provocations".