New Delhi: India on Sunday told Pakistan to vacate its territory soon after neighbouring country’s prime minister Imran Khan declared Gilgit-Baltistan as its provisional fifth province, .
Spokesman of Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said India firmly rejects the attempt by Pakistan to bring material changes to a part of Indian territory under its illegal and forcible occupation. The Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including “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, he added.
Srivastava said that the Pakistan government has “no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied” by it. Such attempts by Pakistan, intended to camouflage its 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, he added.
He further said instead of seeking to alter the status of the Indian territories, Pakistan is told to immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation.
Earlier, Imran announced that his government has decided to grant the “provisional-provincial status” to Gilgit-Baltistan, a part of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, illegally occupied by Pakistan in 1947.
