ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday strongly dismissed India’s recent remarks concerning the forthcoming elections in Gilgit-Baltistan, describing them as unfounded and politically motivated.
The Foreign Office stated that such statements cannot distract the international community from what it termed serious human rights concerns in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
In a statement, the Foreign Office said India’s unfounded assertions regarding Gilgit-Baltistan cannot divert attention from the grave and systematic human rights violations being perpetrated by Indian occupation forces in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
It said that, as a global leader in propagating fake narratives and tendentious propaganda, India’s outlandish claims are part of a familiar and carefully choreographed attempt to conflate fact with fiction. The Foreign Office unequivocally rejected this latest Indian rhetoric.
The statement said the Jammu and Kashmir dispute remains the longest unresolved issue on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council and originated from what Pakistan described as India’s forcible and unlawful occupation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947.
According to the Foreign Office, a just and lasting settlement of the dispute can only be achieved through the implementation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, which provide for the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices.
The Foreign Office further stated that the continued impunity enjoyed by Indian forces under laws enforced in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir represents another aspect of what it called state-sponsored repression against Kashmiris.
Pakistan also called on India to vacate occupied territories, reverse all unilateral measures introduced in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir since August 5, 2019, repeal restrictive laws, and permit access to international observers, human rights organizations, humanitarian agencies, and the foreign media.
The statement added that India should enable the Kashmiri people to exercise their right to self-determination in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
