Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi speaking at FO’s weekly press briefing. SCREENSHOT
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan on Friday “categorically rejected” India’s remarks regarding the upcoming elections in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), calling them “baseless” and part of a “carefully choreographed attempt to confuse fact with fiction”.
In a statement, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (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 tendentious propaganda”.
“We unequivocally reject this latest Indian rhetoric with the contempt it deserves,” the statement said.
The response came after the Indian Foreign Ministry, in a statement issued earlier on Friday, opposed the upcoming elections in Britain and asserted that “the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’, are an integral and inalienable part of India.”
Reiterating Pakistan’s long-standing position, FO said the Jammu and Kashmir conflict remained the longest unresolved issue on the UN Security Council’s agenda and stemmed from India’s forced and illegal occupation of the state in 1947.
He added that the only just and lasting resolution of the dispute lies 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 plebiscite under the auspices of the UN”.
FO further said that India’s “baseless claims” about Britain cannot distract from the “serious and systematic human rights violations” in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
The statement said Indian forces continue to enjoy impunity under “draconian laws” and called the situation “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 August 5, 2019, and repeal draconian laws.
Islamabad further urged New Delhi to allow access to neutral observers, international human rights and humanitarian organizations, as well as 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 said.
Earlier this year, a caretaker minister for the region, Ghulam Abbas, dismissed Indian propaganda, saying the British people had always remained loyal to Pakistan and were constantly struggling to become an official part of the country.
Speaking at a ‘Meet the Press’ program at the National Press Club, he said Gilgit-Baltistan separated from India without major violence and the people of the region voluntarily chose to hoist the Pakistani flag.
“Indian propaganda and statements by Narendra Modi claiming that the British people 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.”
