Pakistan has rejected India’s assertions about the status of Jammu and Kashmir, saying New Delhi’s unilateral actions cannot change the territory’s internationally disputed status.
Foreign Office spokesperson Ambassador Sajjad Haider Khan issued the statement on Monday in response to recent comments by India’s Ministry of External Affairs about the map of Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan Reaffirms Kashmir Position
Khan said Pakistan “categorically rejects” what it called India’s baseless assertions about Jammu and Kashmir.
He said India’s unilateral actions and what Pakistan describes as its continued illegal occupation cannot alter the territory’s internationally recognised disputed status.
According to Pakistan’s Foreign Office, the Kashmir dispute remains one of the oldest unresolved internationally recognised disputes on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council.
Pakistan also reaffirmed its position that the final status of Jammu and Kashmir should follow relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the will of the Kashmiri people.
Pakistan Cites UN Resolutions
Khan said the relevant UN resolutions provide for the will of the Kashmiri people to be determined through a free and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices.
He also referred to official UN maps that depict Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory.
“The official United Nations maps, which depict Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory, remain the only cartographic representation of its current legal status,” Khan said.
He added that India’s official maps and unilateral sovereignty claims do not change Pakistan’s position on the disputed territory.
Dispute Follows India’s Map Statement
The latest exchange followed a statement by India’s Ministry of External Affairs concerning the depiction of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on maps.
India said its territory must appear according to its official map. New Delhi also said it would not accept what it considers inaccurate or misleading depictions.
The disagreement came after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution promoting the use of map projections that provide a more accurate representation of the relative size of the world’s landmasses.
India supported that resolution. However, New Delhi later clarified that the resolution did not endorse any specific national map or territorial boundaries.
More Read
Pakistan Calls for International Action
The Foreign Office also called on the international community to press India to stop what Pakistan describes as human rights violations in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
Khan urged the international community to support the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination in line with relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
The latest statement shows that Pakistan continues to base its official position on Jammu and Kashmir on UN Security Council resolutions, international law and the stated right of the Kashmiri people to self-determination.
