Narendra Modi makes indirect reference to air strikes at Gandhi Peace Prize event; tells audience he was ‘busy’ with ‘other work’

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made an indirect reference to the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on terror camps across the LoC when he sought apology from the audience at the Rashtrapati Bhawan for being late as he was "busy" with "some other work".

He had chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security at his official residence around 10 am before rushing to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, where President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2015-2018.The event at the Rashtrapati Bhawan was to begin at 11 am, but started a little late. "First of all, my apologies or being late. The programme started late as I reached here (Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan) late. I was busy in some other work and I was late," he said while addressing the gathering.In a pre-dawn operation, the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side, 12 days after the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.