Claim comes days after foreign minister admits that JeM chief is in Pakistan

Jaish-e-Muhammed which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack does not exist in Pakistan, the military's spokesperson has said, days after Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi admitted that the terror outfit's chief is present in the country.

The already sour relations between India and Pakistan have worsened after Pakistan-based JeM claimed responsibility for the February 14 Pulwama attack. Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor when asked if the two countries were close to war after the attack told CNN, "We were I would say close to war because when they [India] violated the airspace under token aggression, we went for response."

"But post the Indian aggression and our response, the safeguards have been taken by both side," Ghafoor said on the situation along the LoC. He further said that JeM's claim of responsibility for the Pulwama attack had not been made from inside Pakistan. "Jaish-e-Muhammed does not exist in Pakistan. It has been proscribed by the United Nations and Pakistan also. Secondly, we are not doing anything under anybody's pressure," he claimed.

Last month Qureshi during an interview with CNN said that JeM chief Masood Azhar is in Pakistan, but said the government can act against him only if India presents "solid" and "inalienable" evidence.

Chinese min in Pak
China on Wednesday announced that vice foreign minister Kong Xuanyou is in Islamabad to discuss the Indo-Pak tensions. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said , "China has been promoting peace and stability in this region. We hope that Pakistan and India will maintain friendly relations."

JuD, FIF assets confiscated
Pakistan on Wednesday intensified its ongoing crackdown against the banned organisations and took control of several seminaries and assets belonging to Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF).

'Following reports of F-16 misuse'
The US is "very closely" following reports that Pakistan misused American-made F-16 fighter jets against India in the recent aerial confrontation between their air forces, said a top State Department official.

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