Foreign fighters being trained in PoK for jihad in India, says BBC

Hundreds of students, including foreigners are being trained in militant camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to wage 'jihad' against India, but Pakistan denied the report by the BBC as "baseless".

After a lull, several militant outfits have now again raised their heads and increased their activities in and around Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), to wage 'jihad' against India, BBC Urdu Service has reported.

A 25-year-old engineering student from Lahore, fresh from a training stint in one of the camps told BBC from POK that "a large number of youths from Pakistani universities and abroad are undergoing training in PoK under supervision of a militant group to wage jihad against India."

"Around 20 per cent youths in the training camps are from Kashmir and 10 per cent are from other countries... Majority of those receiving training are from Pakistan's Punjab province," claimed the student, who identified himself as a Kashmiri and had received two-month training this year.

He also said that many other students from his university have joined the militant training programme run by a tanzeem (group) located near Lahore, an apparent reference to Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is headquartered at Murdike on the outskirts of the city.

"We could be sent to Kashmir or we could be stationed in Pakistan itself for propagating Islam," he said in response to a question.

The claims made by the student contradicts Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik who had recently denied reports of existence of militant camps in PoK. Pakistan dismissed the report as "baseless" attempt to undermine the movement by the Kashmiri people.

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit contended it was "baseless and malicious". He said such reports are "aimed at undermining the legitimate struggle of Kashmiris for their right to self-determination."

Pakistan is committed to extend "full diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiris in their struggle against Indian occupation", he said in Islamabad.

Despite the Pakistan government's claim that militant groups are not active in PoK, members of banned organisations like the Lashker-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujihadeen have openly organised and addressed several meetings in which they have called on people to wage "jihad" to "liberate" Jammu and Kashmir.