ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday rejected as baseless the allegations levelled by the Indian army chief that hundreds of militants are ready to infiltrate into occupied Kashmir.

Gen Bipin Rawat had on Monday alleged that the “terror camps” in Balakot destroyed by the Indian Air Force earlier this year had been reactivated and at least 500 militants were waiting to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir.

The Foreign Office rebutted the Indian army chief’s statement, saying it was completely baseless. FO spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal emphasised that the Indian allegations about “infiltration” from Pakistan reflected a desperate attempt to divert the international attention from the humanitarian nightmare being perpetrated by Indian occupation forces in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

He said India would neither succeed in misleading the world community through these diversionary tactics nor would it be able to hide its unabated state terrorism in held Kashmir.

The FO spokesperson said Indian ceasefire violations had so far this year caused a huge human toll, resulting in the killing of 26 innocent civilians and injuries to 124 others.

“The insincerity and lack of credibility of Indian statements are further exposed by the fact that India severely hinders the functioning of the UNMOGIP [United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan] and limits the free and unhampered mobility of its personnel, which is in complete contrast with Pakistan’s approach of allowing full facilitation of their free movement,” he said, adding that India’s belligerent rhetoric and actions were a threat to the regional peace and stability.

“We hope the international community will take due cognisance and urge India to act responsibly and refrain from steps that only serve to vitiate an already tense environment,” Dr Faisal said.

Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said the Indian army chief’s statement about alleged terrorist camps in Balakot was a pretext for a false flag operation.

In a series of posts on Twitter on Tuesday, the military spokesman said: “Irresponsible statements by Indian military commanders particularly about AJ&K are expression of their frustration due to their failure to handle situation in IOJ&K and attempts to divert world’s attention from Indian state terrorism and siege of IOJ&K. Accusations of infiltration/presence of alleged terrorists camps are pretext for a false flag operation/misadventure which if tried shall have serious consequences for regional peace.”

He said the Pakistani armed forces were fully prepared to respond to any aggression or misadventure regardless of cost.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2019