India claims Pakistan hosts militants

Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has called for the lifting of the curfew in Kashmir, saying he will continue to highlight the Kashmir issue at every forum and will fulfill his promise of being the “ambassador of Kashmir.”

NEW DELHI — India’s army chief said Monday that Pakistan has reactivated militant camps in Pakistan-held Kashmir, and that about 500 militants are waiting to infiltrate into India.

Gen. Bipin Rawat didn’t provide any evidence to back his claims.

Senior officials at Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry denied the accusation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

They said India’s government and military were “using false propaganda to implicate Pakistan for the domestic backlash to Indian repression in Indian-administered Kashmir.” India has placed a curfew and other restrictions on people in its part of Kashmir since downgrading the special status of the disputed Himalayan region on Aug. 5.

The Press Trust of India news agency quoted the army chief as saying that “some action had been taken” by India’s air force “and now they [Pakistan] have got the people back there.”

Rawat was referring to an airstrike carried out by the air force on Feb. 26 that India claimed hit a militant camp in a heavily forested hilltop in Balakot, an area about 6 miles inside Pakistani territory. It said the camp hosted members of a militant group responsible for a suicide car bombing in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers.

Pakistan had denied the strike was carried out from its soil. It also said no such camps were hit or operated in the area.

The next day, Pakistan’s air force shot down an Indian fighter jet during an aerial confrontation and took an Indian pilot prisoner. He was later released.

Rawat indicated that India’s response now may be stronger than it was in February.

“Why repeat? Why not beyond that? Let them keep guessing,” Indian news channels quoted him as saying.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has called for the lifting of the curfew in Kashmir, saying he will continue to highlight the Kashmir issue at every forum and will fulfill his promise of being the “ambassador of Kashmir.”

The two leaders of the nuclear-armed rivals are due to face each other during the upcoming meeting of the U.N. General Assembly amid their worst tensions in years over Kashmir.

The conflict over Kashmir has existed since the late 1940s when India and Pakistan won independence from Britain. The countries have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, and each administers a portion of the region.

The year 1989 saw the start of a full-blown armed rebellion against Indian control for a united Kashmir, either under Pakistan rule or independent. Since then, about 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which India sees as a proxy war by Pakistan.

The region is one of the most heavily militarized in the world, patrolled by soldiers and paramilitary police. Most Kashmiris resent the Indian troop presence and support the rebels.