The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ spokesman Tahir Andrabi speaks at the FO’s weekly press briefing. SCREEN GRAB
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan on Friday “categorically” rejected India’s remarks on the upcoming elections in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), terming them as “baseless” and part of a “carefully choreographed attempt to conflate fact with fiction”.
In a statement, Foreign Ministry (FO) 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 “global leader in spreading 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 earlier on Friday, objected to the upcoming UK election, claiming that “the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’, are integral and inalienable parts of India”.
Reiterating Pakistan’s longstanding position, the FO said the Jammu and Kashmir dispute remained the longest unresolved issue on the UN Security Council agenda and stemmed from India’s forcible and illegal occupation of the state in 1947.
It added that the only just and durable solution to the dispute lay in the implementation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions, which guarantee the Kashmiri people their “inalienable right to self-determination through a free and impartial referendum under UN auspices”.
The FO further stated that India’s “baseless allegations” regarding GB could not divert attention from “serious and systematic human rights violations” in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
The statement said Indian forces continue to enjoy impunity under “draconian laws” and characterized the situation as “state terrorism” against unarmed Kashmiris.
Pakistan also called on India to vacate all occupied territories, reverse “all illegal and unilateral actions” taken in Occupied Kashmir since 5 August 2019 and repeal draconian laws.
Islamabad further called on New Delhi to allow access to neutral observers, international human rights and humanitarian organizations and the international media to independently assess the situation on the ground.
“India must also enable the Kashmiri people 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, dismissed Indian propaganda and said the people of GB had always been loyal to Pakistan and consistently fought to become a formal part of the country.
Addressing a ‘Meet the Press’ program at the National Press Club, he said Gilgit-Baltistan had seceded from India without much violence and the people of the region had voluntarily chosen to hoist the Pakistani flag.
“The Indian propaganda and the statements of 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 accepted by the international community”.
