Foreign ministry spokesman Muhammad Naeem Khan said India had made the claim in order to justify deploying more troops to fight an insurgency inside Kashmir.

“We reject these baseless allegations,” Khan told Reuters.

“The Indian government wants to deploy additional troops in the occupied Kashmir on the pretext of so-called training camps.”

India’s Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told parliament in New Delhi on Wednesday that a large number of militant training camps had been activated on the Pakistan side of the ceasefire line and that guerrillas were poised to infiltrate into Indian territory.

Mukherjee’s statement also reflected growing concern in New Delhi about violence in Kashmir after the Indian army reported a surge in militant infiltration last month and said it had killed dozens of militants.

Pakistani current affairs magazine “The Herald” in a July edition cover story titled “Back to Camp”, described how militant organisations had reopened camps in northwestern Pakistan.

Last Friday, while speaking to foreign media, Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf sought to allay Indian concerns over such reports.

“Let me assure you that the situation is on the mend,” he said.