Pakistan retaliates, summons India envoy over Gilgit Baltistan

Following India’s summons of its Deputy High Commissioner Syed Haider Shah on Sunday over the Gilgit Baltistan order, Pakistan retaliated on Monday and counter-summoned India’s Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh. Handing him a written demarche, Pakistan termed India’s claim as “spurious” and said it contradicts everything from history to the situation on the ground. 

“The entire state of Jammu & Kashmir is a disputed territory. Its disputed status is enshrined in the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, which stipulate that the final status of J&K will be determined through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite administered by the UN. These resolutions, pledging the right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir, were accepted by India, Pakistan and the international community,” said the demarche.

After the Pakistan Cabinet on May 21 approved the Gilgit-Baltistan Order 2018, it was also endorsed by the assembly of the region. However, the order is being seen as Islamabad’s efforts towards incorporating the disputed region as its fifth province. So, India summoned Shah and lodged a strong protest over the move and said that any action to alter the status of any part of the territory under its “forcible and illegal occupation” has no legal basis.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday also hit out at Pakistan over its Gilgit Baltistan Order that she claimed amounted to annexing the region that is legally part of Jammu and Kashmir. “Pakistan tries to teach us history and geography. It is one country which does not believe in the rule of law and I would just say one thing to their answer: ‘Look who’s talking’,” Swaraj asserted.