Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi speaking at FO’s weekly press briefing. SCREEN CAPTURE
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan on Friday “categorically rejected” India’s comments on the upcoming elections in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), calling them “baseless” and part of a “carefully choreographed attempt to combine fact with fiction.”
In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andarabi said India remained in “illegal occupation of the internationally recognized disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir” and accused New Delhi of being a “world leader in propagating false narratives and biased propaganda.”
“We unequivocally reject this latest Indian rhetoric with the contempt it deserves,” the statement said.
The response came after India’s Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement issued on Friday, objected to the upcoming elections in Britain and stated that “all the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’, are integral and inalienable parts of India.”
Reiterating Pakistan’s long-standing position, the FO said the Jammu and Kashmir dispute remains the longest-standing unresolved issue on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council and originated from India’s forcible and illegal occupation of the state in 1947.
He added that the only just and lasting solution to the dispute lies in the implementation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, which guarantee the people of Kashmir their “inalienable right to self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the UN.”
The FO further stated that India’s “baseless claims” about GB could not divert attention from the “serious and systematic violations of human rights” in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
The statement said Indian forces continued to enjoy impunity under “draconian laws” and characterized the situation as “state terrorism” against unarmed Kashmiris.
Pakistan also called on India to leave all occupied territories, reverse “all illegal and unilateral actions” taken in occupied Kashmir since August 5, 2019 and repeal draconian laws.
Islamabad further urged New Delhi to allow access to neutral observers, international humanitarian and human rights organizations, as well as international media, to independently assess the situation on the ground.
“India must also allow the people of Kashmir to exercise their right to self-determination in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” the statement read.
Earlier this year, a caretaker minister for the region, Ghulam Abbas, rejected Indian propaganda, saying the people of Britain had always remained loyal to Pakistan and constantly strived to become a formal part of the country.
Speaking at a ‘Meet the Press’ program at the National Press Club, he said that Gilgit-Baltistan had seceded from India without major violence and that the people of the region had voluntarily chosen to hoist the Pakistani flag.
“Indian propaganda and statements by Narendra Modi claiming that the people of Britain are protesting against Pakistan to join India have become a laughing stock in the region,” Abbas said, adding that “this narrative is not even being accepted by the international community.”
