Pakistan Monday summoned top Indian diplomat to register the country's categorical rejection of the Indian statement on Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Order 2018 as well as its baseless and fallacious claim over the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
"In continuation of yesterday's (Sunday) press release on the issue, the Director General (South Asia & SAARC), Dr Mohammad Faisal, summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh on Monday to register Pakistan's categorical rejection of the Indian statement on the Gilgit-Baltistan Order 2018 and its baseless, fallacious claim over the Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir," said a Foreign Office statement.
It further stated that a written demarche to this effect was also handed over to the Indian deputy high commissioner. Earlier on Sunday, India summoned Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner Syed Haider Shah and lodged a protest with him after Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi approved the Order.
"It was clearly conveyed that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir which also includes the so-called 'Gilgit-Baltistan' areas is an integral part of India by virtue of its accession in 1947," said a statement of the Indian External Affairs Ministry. However, Pakistan categorically rejected India's protest against the Gilgit-Baltistan Order 2018 and its claim over the Indian occupied State of Jammu & Kashmir as an 'integral part' of India.
"Everything from history to law to morality to the situation on the ground belies India's spurious claim...The entire state of Jammu & Kashmir is a "disputed" territory," Spokesperson Foreign Office Dr Mohammad Faisal said in response to the India's protest over the Order.
He said that its disputed status is enshrined in the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, which stipulate that the final status of Jammu & Kashmir will be determined through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite administered by the United Nations. These resolutions, pledging the right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir, were accepted by India, Pakistan and the international community, he added.
"Instead of making frivolous protests and issuing legally untenable and uncalled for statements, India should take steps to vacate its illegal occupation and create the conditions for faithful implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions, so that this longstanding dispute between India and Pakistan is peacefully resolved in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people," he said.
He said that baseless Indian propaganda about Gilgit-Baltistan can neither cover up the atrocities being perpetrated by the Indian security forces against the innocent and unarmed Kashmiris in IOK, nor can it succeed in diverting the attention of the international community from the deplorable situation in Indian occupied Kashmir.