ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – Pakistan has strongly rejected the Indian claim of owing the entire State of Jammu & Kashmir, including the regions of Gilgit and Baltistan.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah dismissed the remarks made by Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup, in which he claimed the entire State of Jammu & Kashmir, including the regions of Gilgit and Baltistan as an integral part of India.
Qazi reminded that Kashmir is an internationally recognised dispute, pending final settlement through a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices, as enshrined in numerous UN Resolutions. “Under these resolutions no material change is allowed, yet India, in complete violation of these resolutions, calls it a state of the union,” he added.
The spokesman said the Indian description of the elections being held in Gilgit-Baltistan on 8 June terming, “as an attempt by Pakistan to camouflage its forcible and illegal occupation of the regions,” is interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan.
It is actually India which is unlawfully occupying the territories of Jammu & Kashmir, he further said.
To maintain its illegal hold on that disputed territory, India has deployed over 700,000 of its forces, atrociously tries to suppress majority voice of Kashmiri Muslims and holds sham elections at gun-point.
The FO spokesman said the dispute stems from India’s constant refusal to implement the relevant Security Council resolutions, which provides for a just solution of the Kashmir issue. “India’s position on Kashmir is one of utter disregard to the UN Resolutions, a consistent pattern of forceful occupation, denial of the inalienable right of self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he stated.
