ISLAMABAD, AUG 8: Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri on Sunday rejected reports published by Indian media which quoted an Indian official as saying that “terrorists are waiting at launch pads to infiltrate” into occupied Kashmir from Pakistan.

“We categorically reject the baseless allegations that Pakistan wanted to infiltrate so-called ‘terrorists’ via the Line of Control (LoC),” Chaudhri said in a statement.

In a report published earlier this week, Indian publication The Hindu quoted an unnamed security official as saying that “140 terrorists are waiting at launch pads to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir and the terror infrastructure across the LoC remains in place.

“The [Indian] army had been noticing the continued presence of around 140 terrorists at the launch pads across the LoC, likely waiting to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir, but the robust counter-infiltration grid had so far desisted them from making any such attempts,” the report said.

“They tried in the past, but had to return after alert jawans foiled their nefarious designs,” the official said, according to The Hindu.

In his statement today, Chaudhri said India’s “smear campaign against Pakistan is well-known and was fully exposed” by EU DisinfoLab last year in its investigation titled Indian Chronicles.

The Brussels-based EU DisinfoLab had uncovered a vast network of 265 coordinated fake local media outlets in 65 countries serving Indian interests, as well as multiple dubious think tanks and NGOs. The network was active in Brussels and Geneva in producing and amplifying content designed to, primarily, undermine Pakistan.

“The Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) is one of the most militarised zones in the world with over 900,000 Indian security personnel. India has erected multi-tiered fence, installed electronic surveillance equipment and set up multiple layers of security, making it impossible for anything to cross the LoC to enter IIOJK. Therefore, such allegations recycled from time to time have no basis to stand on,” Chaudhri pointed out.

On the other hand, India has been involved in state terrorism in occupied Kashmir against Pakistan and in other areas of the country, including the blast in Lahore’s Johar Town in June, he noted.

The FO spokesperson also recalled that Pakistan had, in 2020, presented a dossier on India’s “aiding, abetting and financing of state-sponsored terrorism against Pakistan” to the international community.

Referring to the agreement between Pakistan and India earlier this year, in which both countries had recommitted themselves to the 2003 ceasefire arrangement at the Line of Control, Chaudhri said it was done “in the interest of regional peace and security and to save Kashmiri lives”.

“India must not use baseless and misleading allegations of so-called ‘infiltration’ attempts as a handy ploy to find excuses to scuttle the ceasefire understanding,” he added.

“India must also refrain from peddling falsehoods and creating pretexts for false flag operations. Such irresponsible conduct would only result in further undermining peace and security in the region,” the FO spokesperson said.