Pakistan on Tuesday rejected Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat’s claims that the terrorist camp in Balakot had been reactivated, Dawn reported.

On Monday, Rawat had said that Balakot was reactivated by Pakistan recently and claimed that around 500 terrorists were waiting to infiltrate India. “That shows that Balakot has been affected,” he had said. “It had been damaged and destroyed. And that is why people have got away from there and now it has been reactivated.”

“Indian allegations that Pakistan is [trying to] infiltrate [the border] are an attempt to divert the international community’s attention from the grave violations in occupied Kashmir,” a statement released by Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said. It added that India’s “statements and measures” were a great threat to regional peace.

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“India will not succeed in misleading the international community by using these negative tactics,” the statement added.

Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations Asif Ghafoor also criticised Rawat’s statements. “Irresponsible statements by Indian military commanders, particularly about AJ&K [Azad Jammu and Kashmir] are expression of their frustration due to their failure to handle [the] situation in IOJ&K [Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir] and attempts to divert world’s attention from Indian state terrorism and siege of IOJ&K,” he said in a tweet.

He added that the Pakistan Army was prepared for “any aggression/misadventure” by India.

Hostilities between India and Pakistan peaked in February with the first aerial combat between its air forces in 48 years. The Indian Air Force had struck the terrorist camp at Balakot across the border in Pakistan earlier this year in retaliation against the February 14 Pulwama attack, in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force Personnel were killed. The attack was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed.

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