India has no legal no locus standi on Gilgit-Baltistan: FO

Categorically rejecting the Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s unwarranted comments regarding Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Pakistan has said that the neighbor has no locus standi whatsoever on the issue, historical, legal, or moral.

Addressing a rally, the defense minister said that Pakistan has illegally occupied GB. "Pakistan is going to make it a province now. Our government has clarified that Gilti-Baltistan, along with entire Pakistan occupied Kashmir, is an integral part of India,” Singh said.

In a statement today, the Foreign Office (FO) said administrative, political and economic reforms are a long-standing demand of the people of GB. The envisaged provisional reforms reflect the aspirations of the indigenous populace of Gilgit-Baltistan,FO said.

The statement further contended that gratuitous repetition of false claims by RSS-BJP leaders, can neither change facts nor can it draw attention away from India's human rights violations against the Kashmiris in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK)

The FO also called upon India to immediately end its illegal and forcible occupation of parts of IIOJK and comply with its international obligations 'by allowing the Kashmiris to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination'.