India on Friday termed “completely unacceptable” actions by Pakistan in regard to Gilgit-Baltistan and asserted it can neither camouflage Islamabad’s illegal occupation of part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir nor hide the denial of basic rights to the people in that part for the past six decades.
“The entire State of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India by virtue of its accession to India in 1947. Any action to alter the status of any part of the territory under the illegal occupation of Pakistan has no legal basis whatsoever, and is completely unacceptable,” Vishnu Prakash, official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said here in a statement.
‘Fifth province’
The spokesperson said India has seen the reports of the so-called Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan in which he said that the area had become the ‘fifth province’ of Pakistan and henceforth had no connection to Kashmir.
Last September, India had lodged a protest with Pakistan over its package for the Northern Areas through the “Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order, 2009.” Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner was then summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs and handed over the diplomatic letter of protest.
In a statement last September, the Ministry emphasised that the “entire State of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India by virtue of its accession in 1947. The so-called “Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order, 2009” was yet another cosmetic exercise intended to camouflage Pakistan’s illegal occupation.”
