'India operating 55 terror camps along LoC to destabilise Pakistan'

The surprise, detailed charges, echoing accusations usually hurled by New Delhi against Islamabad, come in the midst of efforts to mend ties between the nuclear-capable neighbours.

"We believe there are several terror training camps in India across the Line of Control (LoC) and the Pakistan-India border," foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan told a weekly press briefing. The LoC divides disputed Kashmir between Indian and Pakistani-ruled zones.

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"This apparatus, infrastructure of terrorist training camps must be dismantled by India if it's serious in its pursuit of peace in South Asia.

"This is not a secret, the Indians know about it and we know about it."

"According to our estimates there are more than 55 and they target Pakistan directly and they launch sabotage and other anti-state activities. They also fuel and fan sectarianism and this is no secret."

The Pakistani accusations come one day after India's junior defence minister Chaman Lal Gupta said some 4,500 Islamic guerrillas were poised to sneak into Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani zone.

Gupta questioned Islamabad's sincerity in normalising relations with India and repeated New Delhi's long-standing demand that Pakistan dismantle alleged terrorist infrastructure.

India has long accused Pakistan of sponsoring, training, funding and arming Muslim rebels to fight Indian rule in Kashmir.