India slams Pakistan's provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan

New Delhi: India on Sunday rejected Pakistan’s attempt to modify the status of the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir’s areas of Gilgit-Baltistan by according it provisional provincial status.

In response to media queries on remarks by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in Gilgit on Sunday regarding his government’s decision to accord “provisional provincial status” to the Gilgit-Baltistan, the Official Spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said: “The Government of India firmly rejects the attempt by Pakistan to bring material changes to a part of Indian territory, under its illegal and forcible occupation. I reiterate that the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the area of so-called “Gilgit-Baltistan”, are an integral part of India by virtue of the legal, complete and irrevocable accession of Jammu and Kashmir to the Union of India in 1947. The Government of Pakistan has no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it.”

The Spokesperson added that such attempts by Pakistan, which are intended to camouflage its illegal occupation, cannot hide the grave human rights violations, exploitation and denial of freedom for over seven decades to the people residing in these Pakistan occupied territories.

“Instead of seeking to alter the status of these Indian territories, we call upon Pakistan to immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation,” the Spokesperson said.