India asks Pakistan to vacate J&K areas

New Delhi: India on Monday lodged a strong protest with Pakistan through diplomatic channels against the so-called “Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution (13th Amendment) Act 2018” and asked the neighbouring country to vacate all areas immediately, saying the region is an integral part of India and that “any action to alter the status of any part of the territory” is illegal and unacceptable.

According to Pakistani media reports, the joint sitting of the so-called Azad Jammu Kashmir Legislative Assembly and the “AJK Council”, held in Muzaffarabad (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) late Friday, approved the 13th amendment in Act 1974, in the so-called Constitution of the region. The transfer of powers of the “AJK Council” to the “AJK government” will reportedly result in an increase of the powers of the Pakistani government in PoK.

“The Government of India has conveyed a strong protest through diplomatic channel today against the so-called ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution (13th Amendment) Act 2018’, the MEA said in a statement late on Monday.  

“It was clearly conveyed that the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir, which also includes the so-called ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ is an integral part of India by virtue of its accession in 1947. Any action to alter the status of any part of the territory under forcible and illegal occupation of Pakistan has no legal basis whatsoever, and is completely unacceptable,” the statement added.

 Instead of seeking to alter the status of the occupied territories, Pakistan should immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation,” it added.