Pakistan rejects “delusional and provocative” remarks by Indian minister on AJK

Islamabad: Pakistan on Tuesday rejected the “utterly delusional and provocative” remarks made by a BJP minister hoping for the “integration” of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in India under the incumbent Indian government.

“It is habitual of political figures from the BJP-RSS combine to drag Pakistan into India’s domestic politics in a bid to divert public attention from major issues and to stoke hyper-nationalism in order to make electoral gains,” the Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement.

He said India would be well-advised to desist from indulging in absurd fantasies and to actually take cognizance of the grave situation on the ground in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

The spokesperson said that despite decades of unabated Indian oppression and illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 under the BJP-RSS dispensation, the Kashmiris’ resolve to resist the Indian occupation has only strengthened with the passage of time.

“The BJP ministers would do well to remind themselves that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized dispute on the agenda of the UN Security Council whose numerous resolutions stipulate that the final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations,” the spokesperson remarked.

Rather than entertaining any notions of aggrandizement, he said, India should vacate its illegal occupation of IIOJK and be prepared for accountability for the brutalization of the innocent Kashmiris by its occupation forces in IIOJK.

“Pakistan will continue to extend all possible support to the Kashmiri people in their just struggle to realize the legitimate right to self-determination, as pledged to them under the relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” the spokesperson resolved.