Pakistan takes foreign media to LoC days after 'clearing' terror camps

Days after clearing the region of terrorists, Pakistan took foreign media to Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) for a propaganda tour.

Pakistani state media said the purpose of the visit was show the purported ground reality to the foreign media.

Following the Pahalgam attack in which Pakistan-sponsored terrorists killed 26 people, Pakistan has been working to show that it has no role in the attack. Pakistani leaders have instead pitched the country as a victim of terrorism.

During the visit to the POJK, Pakistani information minister Attaullah Tarar took the foreign media to the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border with India and claimed to have presented the “truth” to the media, according to the state media.

Instead of any terrorists, Pakistan said that the media saw “thriving civilian communities —homes, markets, and public spaces— contracting claims of ’terrorist hideouts’”.

What Pakistan did not say was that the regime had cleared those hideouts, camps, and launchpads days before in the anticipation of retaliation from India for the Pahalgam attack. Indian intelligence sources say that Pakistan has emptied at least three terrorist launchpads in POJK, according to The Times of India.

Sources said that these launchpads are in POJK’s Shakargarh area adjoining J&K’s Kathua, Samahni area adjoining Nowshera, and Sukhmal area adjoining Hiranagar.

They said that 10-12 terrorists from groups like Lashker-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammed were present at each launchpad before the Pahalgam attack, but they were withdrawn deeper into POJK and Pakistan after the attack amid fears of an Indian military action.

“Pakistan is spooked by memories of the 2019 surgical strikes by India on terror camps in Balakot, etc. It is clear that in the wake of the outrage over the Pahalgam carnage, shared by countries across the world, the terrorists have been directed to vacate the launchpads and return to bases deeper in Pakistan, lest their terror hideouts are once again hit in retaliatory strikes by the Indian forces,” a senior intelligence officer told The Times of India.