Pakistan refuses to close 42 'terror' camps: India
Indian Defence Minister AK Antony yesterday said Pakistan "was not taking serious steps" to destroy 42 terror camps on its soil.
Stating that India was "exploring all possibilities", Antony also said he did not expect any "miracles" from the dialogue with Pakistan.
Antony said 42 militant training camps were operating in Pakistan and accused the country's government of making little effort to close them.
The accusation came after the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan met last month for the first official talks since the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, which India blames on Pakistani militants.
"All the terror camps in Pakistan are active. Pakistan has not taken any serious steps to destroy these camps," Antony told a press conference on the sidelines of the launch of Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) offshore patrol vessel (OPV) Vishwast at the port town of Vasco in Goa state.
"Pakistan has not taken serious steps to destroy these terror camps," he said.
Reiterating that Pakistan had not taken serious steps to control the terror apparatus directed at New Delhi, Antony said that despite this, India would continue to talk to Pakistan.
"However, I do not expect any miracles," Antony said. The foreign secretaries of the two countries had held talks last month, in the first structured dialogue since 26/11.
Pakistan has in the past routinely denied allegations that it arms, funds and trains anti-India terrorists.
Speaking on the issue of infiltration by militants from Pakistan into India, the defence minister attributed it to Jammu and Kashmir's fast-paced return to normalcy.
"Kashmir is becoming normal. Violence is less. This situation cannot be tolerated by forces inimical to India," he said, adding that since "normalcy was coming to Kashmir fast, infiltration was increasing."
He said the Jammu and Kashmir Police had now become "efficient and committed."
Earlier, ICGS Vishwast was commissioned by Antony in the presence of the director general ICG, Anil Chopra, and Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat.
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