ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has strongly rejected the baseless accusations and unfounded assertions made by India’s Defence Minister and Chief of Army Staff about its “fictitious claims over the territories of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.”
Pakistani Foreign Office Spokesman Shafaqat Ali Khan said in a statement issued here on Wednesday that Jammu and Kashmir remains an internationally-recognized disputed territory. “Its final status is to be determined in accordance with relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.”
In this context, he added, India has no legal or moral grounds to assert fictitious claims over the territories of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
“Such rhetoric from Indian leadership cannot divert international attention from the grave human rights violations and oppressive measures being carried out in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. These actions suppress the legitimate and just struggle of the Kashmiri people for their inalienable right to self-determination,” the spokesman remarked.
Pakistan, he said, also underscores that provocative statements of this nature are counterproductive to regional peace and stability.
Instead of levelling baseless allegations against others, India must introspect and address its own documented involvement in orchestrating targeted assassinations, acts of subversion, and state-sponsored terrorism in foreign territories.
It would be pertinent to mention here that India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Jammu and Kashmir is “incomplete” without Pakistan-administered Kashmir. He was addressing the ninth armed forces veterans’ day rally at the Tanda Artillery brigade in Akhnoor on Tuesday.
