Pakistan on Friday summoned a top diplomat of the Indian High Commission here to convey its “rejection” of India’s comments on the recently concluded elections in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
“The Indian Charge d’ Affaires was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to convey Pakistan’s complete rejection of India’s protest and to reiterate Pakistan’s clear and consistent position on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” Foreign Office said in Islamabad in a statement.
India on Thursday rejected the July 25 elections in PoK which were won by Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, saying the “cosmetic exercise” was nothing but an attempt by Pakistan to “camouflage its illegal occupation” and that it has lodged a strong protest over the issue.
Reacting strongly on the elections in the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Pakistan has “no locus standi on these Indian territories” and it must vacate all Indian areas under its illegal occupation.
“The so-called elections in Indian territory under the illegal occupation of Pakistan are nothing but an attempt by Pakistan to camouflage its illegal occupation and the material changes undertaken by it in these territories,” he said at an online media briefing.
Mr. Bagchi also strongly objected to references made to Jammu and Kashmir in a recent joint press statement by Pakistan and China, asserting that the union territories of J-K and Ladakh have been and will remain an integral and inalienable part of India.
India has asserted that Jammu and Kashmir “was, is and shall forever” remain an integral part of India.
New Delhi has also previously told Islamabad that issues related to Jammu and Kashmir are its internal matter and the country is capable of solving its own problems.
The Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) said that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India has been on the agenda of the UN Security Council since 1948 and remains an internationally recognised dispute, as affirmed by the relevant Security Council resolutions.
The FO said that India tried to unilaterally alter the internationally recognised disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir and the territory’s demographic structure in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions. The statement also urged India to take steps for the implementation of the UNSC resolutions on Kashmir.
Pakistan downgraded ties with India and suspended trade after the Indian government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.
India has maintained that the issue related to Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was entirely an internal matter of the country.
