PoK Is Foreign Territory, Pakistan Govt Admits In High Court

Lahore: The Pakistani government has admitted that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is a foreign territory over which it has no jurisdiction.

Pakistan’s Additional Attorney General (AAG) made the rare admission on May 31 when Islamabad High Court was hearing the kidnapping case of Kashmiri poet and journalist Ahmed Farhad Shah.

Following a petition by the poet’s wife, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani wanted Farhad Shah – who was kidnapped from his Rawalpindi home by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies on May 15 — to be produced in court.

But the Additional Attorney General argued that Farhad can’t be produced before Islamabad High Court as he is in police custody in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK), Pakistan Today reported.

The AAG said Kashmir is a foreign territory with its own constitution and courts, and so judgements of Pakistani courts appear as judgements of foreign courts in PoK.

Justice Kayani then asked if PoK is foreign territory, how did Pakistani military and Pakistani Rangers enter the land.

He criticised intelligence agencies of Pakistan for the practice of forced abductions.

Farhad Shah, known to be an activist for the rights of PoK and its people, is being detained by Dhirkot police and has two cases against.

India has always maintained that PoK, under the occupation of Pakistan since 1947, is an integral part of India.

“It (POK) has always been with India, and it will always be India,” India’s Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar recently reiterated.

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath claimed recently during an election rally that PoK will be part of India soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins a third term.