Playing an all-too-familiar tape, Pakistan has claimed that no terror camps exist on 22 ‘pin locations’ shared by India. A month after India handed over a dossier with details of Jaish-e-Mohammed’s (JeM’s) complicity in the Pulwama attack and the presence of JeM terror camps and its leadership in the neighbouring country, Pakistan says it has found no evidence to prosecute 50-odd persons who were detained in connection with the February 14 terror strike. For the record, these suspects had included JeM chief Masood Azhar’s son and brother. After having denied access to the media to the area where the Balakot airstrikes took place on February 26, Pakistan has finally expressed willingness to allow visits — on request — to the locations. These spots have in all probability been duly ‘sanitised’ over the past month. Indian investigators are not likely to find even a shred of credible proof there, as sought by the wily neighbour.

Though these are ‘preliminary’ findings, India can’t expect the outcome to change once the investigation is complete. If Pakistan is sincere about taking its purported counter-terror operations to their logical conclusion, it should throw open the doors of its seminaries, some of which are notorious as breeding grounds for terrorists. This should have been done right after the Pulwama outrage. The reluctance has undone Pakistan’s efforts, already half-hearted, to convince the international community about its intentions to tackle terror.

Amid the jingoistic din raised by a section of the media, credible journalists with an unbiased approach could have shown the true picture to the world, but they were denied the opportunity. Creating a smokescreen has laid bare Pakistan’s agenda to shield the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack, for which the JeM had promptly claimed responsibility. India can go on providing evidence to Pakistan, but it will all be like water off a duck’s back. The fact that Pakistan has laughably identified ‘social media content’ as the basis for India’s documents makes it obvious that this probe is being stage-managed by the deep state.