Pakistan has termed as “baseless" reports in a section of the Indian media claiming the presence of "training camps" in Narowal District along the Kartarpur Corridor. The reports had been attributed to nameless "intelligence sources".
It added that the allegation was part of a “malicious propaganda campaign in India that cannot be condemned enough.”
Earlier in the day, Indian security and intelligence agencies reportedly issued warnings about terror training camps operating in Pakistan’s Punjab Province. The move comes a week before the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor, a four-kilometre stretch of road between India and Pakistan that will allow pilgrims from India to visit one of their shrines in Pakistan,
The Kartarpur Corridor connects India’s Dera Baba Nanak Sahib Gurudwara in the Gurdaspur district with Pakistan’s Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur.
Pakistan and India signed an agreement on 24 October this year to open the Kartarpur Corridor to allow Sikh pilgrims from both countries to visit their shrines.
Though both countries have admitted that they still have some differences regarding the corridor, a decision was taken to sign the agreement in the "larger interest" of the Sikh community.
The foreign ministry of Pakistan on Monday said that the move to open the Kartarpur corridor is aimed at enabling Nanak Naamlevas (believers of Guru Nanak Dev and his philosophy), especially Sikhs, to visit one of their most revered places of worship and to promote inter-faith harmony.
“Unfounded allegations about Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib being used for any purpose other than worship are a deliberate attempt to misrepresent Pakistan’s goodwill gesture, undermine the corridor initiative, and hurt the religious sentiments of Sikhs all over the world,” the ministry said.
