5.5.20

India protests Pakistan SC order on elections in Gilgit-Baltistan

After a Pakistan Supreme Court ruling allowing holding of elections in Gilgit-Baltistan, India on Monday hit back against efforts to, as it said, bring material change in territories illegally occupied by Pakistan and asked it to vacate the same.

The foreign ministry said in a statement it had demarched a senior Pakistan diplomat and lodged a strong protest with Pakistan against its Supreme Court order.

“It was clearly conveyed that the entire Union Territories of Jammu & 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. The Government of Pakistan or its judiciary has no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it,’’ said the MEA.

India also rejected attempts to bring material changes in Pakistan-occupied areas of the Indian territory of J&K. “Instead, Pakistan should immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation,’’ it added. Pakistan responded by summoning a senior Indian diplomat in Islamabad to convey its rejection of India’’s “baseless and fallacious contention” regarding the order.

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