ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday rejected India's reference to Gilgit-Baltistan as "a part of Indian territory."
India's remarks came after Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on Sunday that his government would give provisional provincial status to the region which is the northern and Pakistani-administered part of larger Kashmir.
Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Shri Anurag Srivastava called the move an "attempt by Pakistan to bring material changes to a part of Indian territory, under its illegal and forcible occupation."
"Pakistan categorically rejects Indian Ministry of External Affairs’ irresponsible and unwarranted statement regarding Gilgit-Baltistan (GB)," the Pakistani Foreign Office said in a press release, responding to Srivastava.
Both Islamabad and Delhi have claimed all of Kashmir since gaining independence 73 years ago, and have fought two wars over it. Both control parts of the territory, which is divided between them by a United Nations-mandated Line of Control (LoC).
"India has no locus standi whatsoever on the issue — legal, moral or historical. For more than 73 years, India has been in illegal and forcible occupation of parts of Jammu and Kashmir. Regurgitation of false and fabricated claims by India can neither change the facts nor divert attention from India’s illegal actions and continuing humanitarian crisis resulting from perpetration of the worst human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK)," the Foreign Office said.
This picture taken on Aug. 15, 2019 shows a view of snow-capped mountains and glaciers from the Concordia camping site in the Karakoram range of Pakistan's mountain northern Gilgit region. (AFP/File)
In August last year, India angered Pakistan when it changed the status of Jammu and Kashmir — the Kashmir part under Indian administration. New Delhi scrapped Articles 370 and 35A of the constitution, which gave the erstwhile state limited autonomy.
Gilgit-Baltistan, once known as Northern Areas, used to be a part of Jammu and Kashmir, but has been under Pakistani control since shortly after Pakistan’s independence in 1947.
In 2009, Pakistan announced a plan aimed at giving more of a say to the people of the region, with a first step being an election for an assembly.
From 2009 to date, Gilgit-Baltistan is governed by an empowerment and self-governance order.
Elections for the new legislative assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan will be held on Nov. 15, with a flurry of political activity underway in the area.
Most of the region's 1.2 million people want their area to be merged into Pakistan and declared a separate province.
Strategically located, the territory borders Afghanistan and China, and is at the heart of the $65 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) infrastructure development plan.
Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir dispute
