Pakistan first denies having terror camps, then shuts down a few

New Delhi, Mar 28: While on one hand, Pakistan denied that there were any terror camps on its soil, on the other, it continued to shut down such camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

The intelligence agencies have picked up information that instructions were given to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba by the ISI to shut down the camps. The instruction came in the wake of the Indian Army targeting Pakistan posts in the wake of ceasefire violations. The camps according to the intelligence were being run by Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Ashfaq Baral.

Earlier Pakistan said it has examined 22 "pin locations" shared by India but found no terror camps and claimed that there are no links to nail 54 people detained in connection with the Pulwama terror attack as it shared the "preliminary findings" with New Delhi.

Pakistan is willing to allow visits, on request, to these locations, the Foreign Office (FO) said.

"While 54 detained individuals are being investigated, no details linking them to Pulwama have been found so far," it said.

"Similarly, the 22 pin locations shared by India have been examined. No such camps exist. Pakistan is willing to allow visits, on request, to these locations," the FO said.

It said that in consistent with its commitment to cooperate, Pakistan on Wednesday shared preliminary findings of its investigations with India along with a set of questions.

India handed over the dossier to the Acting High Commissioner of Pakistan in New Delhi on February 27 with specific details of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)'s complicity in the Pulwama attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel on February 14 and the presence of JeM terror camps and its leadership in Pakistan.

Reacting to this, a senior officer told OneIndia that Pakistan continues to live in denial about its camps. We have several times in the past shared information, but they have always denied it. Former officer with the Research and Analysis Wing, Amar Bhushan said that they had mapped the Balakot camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, 15 years back. Information regarding this had been shared several times, but no action was taken.