India slams Pakistan’s decision to hold elections in Gilgit Baltistan
On Thursday, April 30, Pakistan’s Supreme Court had allowed the federal government to amend the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan Order 2018 to conduct general elections as well as to set up a caretaker government during the interregnum period.
By IAR Desk
India has come out strongly against Pakistan’s decision to hold elections in the disputed territory of Gilgit Baltistan.
India delivered a demarche today to a senior Pakistan diplomat conveying that “the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of India” by virtue of its fully legal and irrevocable accession and rejected any efforts to “bring material change in Pakistan occupied territories”.
Pakistan’s government or its judiciary has no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it, New Delhi said.
“India completely rejects such actions and continued attempts to bring material changes in Pakistan occupied areas of the Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Instead, Pakistan should immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a release.
“Such actions can neither hide the illegal occupation of parts of Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh by Pakistan nor the grave human rights violations, exploitation and denial of freedom to the people residing in Pakistan occupied territories for the past seven decades.”
On Thursday, April 30, Pakistan’s Supreme Court had allowed the federal government to amend the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan Order 2018 to conduct general elections as well as to set up a caretaker government during the interregnum period. The federal government had made a plea to the court, seeking to amend the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan Order 2018 to conduct the upcoming general elections by adopting the Elections Act 2017 as well as setting up a caretaker government during the interregnum period.
