ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday rejected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's preposterous claims about situation in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir about democracy to have 'strengthened roots' in the occupied and disputed territory.

"Pakistan rejects the Indian prime minister's preposterous and fallacious claims about 'democracy' in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) following the so-called election of "District Development Council"," Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said, while commenting on Prime Minister Modi's statement with regard to the so-called local bodies elections in the IIOJK.

Chaudhri said that the RSS-BJP brand of 'democracy' only means the muzzling of the Kashmiri voice and will, under the bayonets of Indian army guns. "The 'new chapter' that the RSS-BJP regime is writing in IIOJK is one marked by brutal military siege since 5 August 2019, egregious violations of human rights in the occupied territory, and untold sufferings for the Kashmiri people," he added. He said that the false Indian narratives can neither deceive the Kashmiri people nor mislead the international community.

Nor can they divert attention from the core issue of the Kashmiris' inalienable right to self-determination, he asserted. Rather than resort to diversions and obfuscations, the spokesperson added India should end its illegal occupation and meet its obligation of holding a plebiscite allowing the Kashmiris to exercise their right of self-determination as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

Speaking about the recent so-called local bodies elections in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir after their illegal annexation, Prime Minister Modi Saturday claimed that the recent local body election in Jammu and Kashmir "strengthened roots of democracy".

"I would like to congratulate the people of [occupied] Jammu and Kashmir for strengthening democracy. I saw how the young and the old reached the voting booths in the District Development Council (DDC) polls. The people of Jammu and Kashmir strengthened the roots of democracy in the DDC polls," Modi was quoted as having said by the Indian media.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020