India lodges protest over Pakistan SC allowing polls in Gilgit-Baltistan

New Delhi : India on Monday lodged a strong protest with Pakistan over a recent Pakistan Supreme Court order that allows for the conduct of the general elections as well as setting up a caretaker government ahead of the polls in Gilgit-Baltistan. The region is claimed by India as part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.
A statement from the Indian foreign ministry said India sent the protest note to a senior Pakistan diplomat.“The Government of Pakistan or its judiciary has no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it. India completely rejects such actions and continued attempts to bring material changes in Pakistan occupied areas of the Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Instead, Pakistan should immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation,” the Indian statement said.The statement said it has clearly been conveyed to the Pakistani side that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of India by virtue of its fully legal and irrevocable accession.
According to a report in Pakistan’s The News website, Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the federal government in Islamabad to amend the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan Order 2018 to conduct the general elections and set up a caretaker government during the intervening period.
A seven-member bench of the Pakistani court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed accepted the plea of the federal government, seeking to amend the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan Order 2018 to conduct the upcoming general elections, the report said.“It was further conveyed that such actions can neither hide the illegal occupation of parts of Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh by Pakistan nor the grave human rights violations, exploitation and denial of freedom to the people residing in Pakistan occupied territories for the past seven decades,” the Indian statement said.
The government of India’s position in the matter is reflected in the resolution passed by the Parliament in 1994 by consensus, the statement said, referring to the resolution which states that all of Kashmir is Indian territory.