Pakistan rejects India's 'baseless' claims on status of occupied Kashmir

The Foreign Office (FO) of Pakistan firmly rejected India's claims regarding the status of occupied Kashmir on Monday. The FO spokesperson, Sajjad Haider Khan, asserted that India's "unilateral claims of sovereignty have no bearing on the internationally recognised disputed status of the territory". This stance came shortly after the United Nations voted on Friday to support a resolution championed by African nations, aiming to depict continental landmasses more accurately.

India was among the 164 countries that backed the resolution. However, India's Ministry of External Affairs on Sunday clarified that the resolution did not endorse any specific map or boundaries. It emphasized that its territories, including Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, must be depicted according to its official map, stating that any deviation was unacceptable.

The FO spokesperson further emphasized that India's actions and occupation could not alter the internationally recognized disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir. He reiterated that the Kashmir issue remains one of the oldest unresolved disputes on the UN Security Council's agenda, with relevant UN resolutions stipulating that its final disposition should be decided through a free and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices.

The FO spokesperson also highlighted that the official UN maps, which depict Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory, are the only acceptable cartographic representation of its current legal status. He urged the international community to ensure that India immediately halts human rights violations in the Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir region and fulfills its commitment to the self-determination of the Kashmiri people, as per relevant UN Security Council resolutions.