Pak military continues to encourage terror groups to target India, says Defence Ministry

Pakistani military establishment continues to encourage terrorist groups to infiltrate and target India, the Defence Ministry has said in its annual report.

In the report, India has maintained that New Delhi will continue to take decisive and robust steps to ensure its national security.

"Terrorist groups continued to be encouraged (by Pakistan military) to infiltrate into India under cover of massive cross border firing in Jammu and Kashmir triggering an appropriate response from Indian armed forces," the ministry said in the report for 2018-19.

The report has termed the Pulwama attack as a confirmation of India continuing to be a persistent target of "Pakistan sponsored" cross border terrorism policy.

It also mentions subsequent Indian Air Force's "successful pre-emptive" aerial strike on the largest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in Pakistan's Balakot.

Terming Balakot strikes as "non-military" in nature, the report said: "India's response included a successful preemptive non-military anti-terror aerial strike on the largest training camp of JeM in Balakot, Pakistan."

The report warns that India will continue to take robust and decisive steps to ensure national security until Pakistan takes "credible and irreversible" steps to stop supporting terror groups and dismantle the terrorist infrastructure used to launch attacks against India.

In the report, India has accused Pakistan of avoiding taking action against Jihadi and internationally proscribed terror outfits that target Pakistan's neighbours.

Giving an account of the situation along the Line of Control (LoC), the annual report says that the Indian Army gave a befitting retaliation to Pakistan Army in Sunderbani sector on November 12 last year.

The retaliation came after several attempts by Pakistan to target Indian posts on the LoC.

The LoC has remained volatile with the two Armies exchanging fire regularly. At times, both sides have resorted to using higher calibre weapons against each other.