22 'Terrorist Training Camps Run in Pakistan', No Action Taken - Indian Official

The statement comes as New Delhi and Islamabad remain at odds over the 26 February airstrike by Indian Air Force (IAF) planes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist camp in Pakistan. India insists that the strike killed at least 250 terrorists, while Pakistan claims that Indian jets simply dropped their payloads on a hilltop without hurting anyone.

Pakistan should take “verifiable and credible steps against terrorist organisations and terrorists” allegedly acting on its territory, the Hindustan Times cited an unnamed Indian official as saying on Friday.

“As many as 22 terrorist training camps, including nine of JeM [Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group] are still being run in Pakistan and there has been no action against them," the official claimed, accusing Islamabad of being a “global epicentre of terrorism”.

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The official warned that India will conduct retaliatory counter-terrorism operations like the one in late February deep inside Pakistan “anytime there is an act of terrorism coming from across the border”.

He described Pakistan’s actions against several terrorist groups as “nothing unusual”, also calling them “a revolving door policy, under which house arrest of terrorist leaders simply means keeping them in luxurious accommodation”.

The official also cautioned that “there will be a price that the neighbouring country would have to pay for every terrorist attack coming from across the border”.

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The remarks come as Islamabad and New Delhi remain at loggerheads over the Indian Air Force's (IAF) airstrike on an apparent Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist camp in Pakistan on February 26, which India claims killed between 250 and 400 terrorists.

Pakistan has disputed these claims, insisting the warplanes didn't target any terrorist infrastructure. 

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Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, for his part, stated that the country’s security agencies will not publish any operational details about the 26 February air raid which led to an escalation in tensions between the two neighbours and culminated on 27 February when the two sides’ warplanes engaged in a dogfight over the disputed Kashmir region.

The developments followed a suicide attack by JeM on a security convoy in Kashmir that claimed the lives of 40 Indian servicemen on 14 February. 
New Delhi insists that Islamabad is harbouring and supporting militants that commit terrorist acts on Indian territory. Pakistan denies both the accusations and the existence of militant camps on its territory.