Pakistan strongly rejects Indian Defence Minister’s irresponsible statement on Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan

ISLAMABAD, Oct 30 (SABAH): Pakistan strongly has rejected Indian Defence Minister’s irresponsible statement on Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan

According to the Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad his statement that India had begun “development work in IIOJK that would not stop till it reaches Gilgit-Baltistan” is utterly absurd and ludicrous. The Spokesperson said that Indian Minister’s delusional remarks are farcical on the one hand, and reflective of India’s characteristic hostility towards Pakistan on the other.

He said the so-called ‘development work’ in IIOJK is a mere eyewash, while the amateurish attempt to distort the well-established historical facts about the Jammu & Kashmir dispute is pathetic.

He said the government of India is reminded that the ground realities in IIOJK and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) are diametrically different while AJK is free, open and accessible to the world, India has forcibly occupied IIOJK for the last seventy-five years and manages it as a vast prison.

He said it is also a well documented fact that over 900,000 Indian occupation forces have been committing egregious human rights violations against innocent Kashmiris in IIOJK including extra-judicial killings, custodial deaths, torture and arbitrary detentions.

It is pertinent to mention here that ever since India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5th August 2019, Indian occupation forces have extra-judicially killed more than 690 innocent Kashmiris. In a flagrant violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions, international law, and the 4th Geneva Convention, India has been also seeking to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory.

The spokesperson said the only resolution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute lies in ensuring that the Kashmiris are able to exercise their right of self-determination through the democratic method of holding a UN-mandated free and impartial plebiscite as espoused in the relevant UNSC resolutions, and as per the wishes of the Kashmiri people.