Bela Noor Shah, Muzaffarabad: The Pakistan government on Monday arranged a visit for local and foreign journalists to areas of the part of the disputed Kashmir region it governs, saying it was aiming to counter claims by Indian media that militant training camps were operating there.
New Delhi has blamed Islamabad of involvement in an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir last week in which 26 people were killed, the deadliest in the region in decades. Islamabad denied the allegations and has asked for evidence of its involvement, which Delhi has not publicly shared. However, Indian media has since the April 22 assault variously alleged the presence of militant training camps in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), the part of the disputed valley governed by Pakistan, raising fears that India may launch attacks near the border to take out the camps.
The nuclear-armed neighbors have also since the attack announced a raft of punitive measures against each other, while their forces have exchanged fire for 10 consecutive days across the Line of Control (LOC), the de facto border that divides disputed Kashmir between the two nations.
For the first time since the attack on the tourist site in Pahalgam, Pakistani authorities allowed a group of journalists working for local and foreign news organizations access to the mountain village of Bella Noor Shah, near Muzaffarabad, the main city in Azad Kashmir. The journalists flew by helicopter to Muzaffarabad and then drove around 50 minutes by jeep to Bella Noor Shah where they spent around two hours before bad weather cut short the trip.
“There were numerous contradictions and inconsistencies in their [Indian] claims, and they failed to substantiate them and we are proactively present at one of the locations India has alleged to be a terrorist camp,” Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, who led the visit, told journalists at Bela Noor Shah.
“The Indian allegations regarding [militant camps in] the areas of Bela Noor Shah and Pir Chinasi in Azad Kashmir are fabricated and baseless, as not only is the local population living a normal life, but educational institutions are functioning and tourism is continuing as usual,” he added.
Speaking to Arab News at Bela Noor Shah, Muzaffarabad Commissioner Ghuftar Hussain denied the presence of militant camps in the entire area.
“This is a tourist spot and very peaceful area where people from all over Kashmir and Pakistan came for recreation,” he told Arab News.
Residents of the village also told reporters they had never seen such camps in the area.
“I am a university student in Muzaffarabad and have frequently visited various places in the area with friends, but I have never seen any camps anywhere in these regions,” Ameer Ali, 23, a resident of the nearby village Sawan Pani who had come for recreation at the top of the hill, said.
Shafaat Qadri, a 45-year-old local resident and madrassah teacher, agreed.
“Today, I brought a visiting friend to this picnic spot who is here from Rawalakot University,” he added. “Visiting this place has been part of our routine, and if there were any suspicious activities here, they could not go unnoticed by the locals.”
The LoC, along which India claims terror camps operate, runs 742km (460 miles). The military frontline, which passes through inhospitable terrain, is heavily militarized with both Indian and Pakistani forces even in times of peace and has separated hundreds of families and even divided villages and mountains.
Monday’s trip was reminiscent of one in 2019, when Pakistani authorities allowed a group of journalists working for foreign news organizations, and foreign diplomats based in Islamabad, access to the site of a madrassa on a remote hilltop in Balakot, a town located in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northern Pakistan. Weeks ago, India had alleged it had struck the school and killed hundreds of "terrorists" and their trainers and associates. Pakistan rejected the accusations.
During that standoff, Pakistani jets shot down an Indian aircraft in actions spread over two days.
