JK News Today
Jammu, November 01:
India on Sunday summarily rejected Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s announcement of his government granting provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan , which were earlier known as Northern Areas, and asked Pakistan to vacate these territories , instead of altering the status .
MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told Pakistan in categorical terms 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.”
Such attempts by Pakistan, MEA said, ‘intended to camouflage its (Pakistan) 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 statement read.
