India on Friday lodged a strong protest against the Pakistani government’s move to hold elections to the Legislative Assembly in Gilgit-Baltistan, a strategic mountainous region that New Delhi claims is part of the undivided state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Pakistani government is planning to hold elections to the 33-member Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly on June 7. The elections were scheduled to be held in January, but were postponed due to severe weather conditions in the region.
The Ministry of External Affairs said that India had lodged a strong representation with Pakistan over the holding of “general elections” for “the so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly’ in Indian territory which is illegally and forcefully occupied by Pakistan.”
The Indian government reiterated its well-known position that the entire union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, “including the so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’, are inalienable and integral parts of India as a result of Jammu and Kashmir’s “full, legal and irrevocable accession to India in 1947”, the ministry said in a statement.
The Indian side stressed that “such endeavors by Pakistan cannot hide the underlying issues of gross human rights violations, political repression, economic exploitation and deprivation of liberty” in the territories illegally occupied by Pakistan.
“The Government of India categorically rejects any attempts by Pakistan to bring about material change in areas under illegal Pakistani occupation, and emphasizes that such actions cannot hide the fact that Pakistan continues to illegally control Indian territory, which it must vacate,” the statement read.
India has protested against the holding of elections in Gilgit-Baltistan by Pakistani authorities in the past as well. It also lodged protests against the inclusion of the region in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
In 2018, the Pakistani government transferred the powers of the Islamabad-controlled Gilgit-Baltistan Council to a local council. Earlier, the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Government Order issued in 2009 renamed the northern areas as Gilgit-Baltistan, granting the region a province-like status but without representation in the Pakistani Parliament.
On Sunday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reviewed security preparations for holding elections in Gilgit-Baltistan. More than 5,000 security personnel have been deployed in the area, and Sharif told Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi during a meeting that the government would take every step to “support the democratic process.”
