ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday vowed to counter India’s attempts to change the reality of Jammu and Kashmir, saying no amount of rhetoric or unilateral measures could alter the territory’s internationally recognised disputed status.
In a post on X, the PM said India’s unilateral and illegal actions of Aug 5, 2019, in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) had entered their seventh year.
However, he made it clear that India could not deny the rights of the Kashmiri people guaranteed under international law and the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.
He said the situation in IIOJK continued to be defined by a heavy military presence and draconian laws, which, he said, were being used to pursue demographic engineering aimed at changing the territory’s Muslim-majority character.
He said India’s efforts to silence the Kashmiri people and erase their identity were continuing alongside these measures.
The PM said what he called hollow and unsubstantiated claims of development could not replace the inalienable right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to decide their future through a free and impartial plebiscite mandated by the United Nations.
Reaffirming Pakistan’s support for the Kashmiri people, the prime minister called on India to reverse its illegal measures, end human rights violations, and stop obstructing a peaceful resolution of the dispute.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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