ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office on Friday dismissed India’s criticism of Islamabad preparing to hold elections in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region on June 7, urging New Delhi to repeal what it said were draconian laws in disputed Kashmir and hold an impartial plebiscite in the region.
India’s External Affairs Ministry on Friday issued a statement saying it had lodged a strong protest to condemn Islamabad’s move to hold polls in GB later this week. India has always claimed that it has the right to govern all territories in the Jammu and Kashmir region, including GB. Pakistan rejects these claims and accuses India of forcefully occupying the Jammu and Kashmir region since 1947.
Both nuclear-armed neighbors have fought two out of three wars since 1947 over the Kashmir region. They both administer parts of Kashmir but claim the entire region.
“Pakistan categorically rejects India’s baseless remarks regarding the upcoming elections in Gilgit-Baltistan,” the foreign office said.
“As a global leader in propagating fake narratives and tendentious propaganda, India’s outlandish claims are part of a familiar and carefully choreographed attempt to conflate fact with fiction.”
The foreign office said that the only just solution to the Kashmir dispute was that the people of the region be given the right to self-determination through an impartial and free plebiscite under the UN.
It accused India of committing “grave and systematic human rights violations” in the part of Kashmir that New Delhi administers.
“Pakistan calls upon India to vacate all occupied territories, reverse all illegal and unilateral actions taken in IIOJK, particularly since 5 August 2019, repeal all draconian laws,” the foreign office said.
“And allow access to neutral observers, international human rights and humanitarian organizations, and the international media to ascertain the situation on the ground.”
Mainstream Pakistani political parties have campaigned for the June 7 elections in GB. Historically, the party that forms its government at the center has performed well in GB.
This is the fourth election being held in the area. Thousands of voters will take to the ballot box later this week to vote for 33 seats of the legislative assembly in the northern region.
