NEW DELHI: New Delhi on Tuesday accused Islamabad of maintaining more than 40 militant camps along their border and said it has foiled attempts by the militants to cross into its territory.

There are 42 militant camps functioning in the border region, 25 in Pakistani-administered Kashmir and 17 in Pakistan containing around 2,500 militants, junior home affairs minister Mullappally Ramachandran told the Indian parliament.

“The terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan or Kashmir remains intact and infiltration attempts from across the border still continue to pose a challenge to the security forces,” he alleged.

Ramachandran further alleged that militants – with the support of the Pakistani Army – have made 249 infiltration attempts to sneak into Indian territory so far this year – two more than last year but far below the 489 in 2010.

Intelligence inputs indicate “active support” of Pakistani intelligence and security agencies to push terrorists into India, claimed the minister.

The border area – particularly the Jammu region in Indian-administered Kashmir – “is highly vulnerable to infiltration from Pakistan side”, he said.

“However, due to intensive vigil and high degree of alertness, BSF (Border Security Force) personnel foil every attempt of infiltration by Pakistani terrorists. There has been no case of infiltration by terrorists,” Ramachandran said.

He said the lack of successful infiltration attempts was due to better border management, including border fencing and better intelligence.

India accuses Pakistan of backing extremist militants on its side of the divided region. Pakistan denies the charges.