ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, on Thursday, refuted the India's 'unsubstantiated and self-serving' claims about the 'so-called' democracy, development and good governance in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir and reiterated that Kashmir never was and never will be a part of India.
Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, while responding to media queries, reacted sharply to Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar's tweet on so-called 'New Jammu Kashmir' at the completion of two years since India's illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019.
"In a tweet Thursday, the Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) has made unsubstantiated and self-serving remarks about the situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K). We wish to remind India that Jammu and Kashmir remains an internationally recognised dispute and one of the longest outstanding items on the UN Security Council's agenda," Chaudhri said.
As for Indian false propaganda of the so-called democracy, development, good governance and empowerment in the occupied territory, he pointed out that the international community has seen the most unprecedented military siege, gross and systematic human rights violations, and curbs on all fundamental rights and freedoms of the Kashmiri people in the IIOJ&K.
"India has taken a series of illegal steps for further disempowerment and disenfranchisement of the already deprived and oppressed Kashmiri people, including illegal changes in demographic structure of IIOJ&K and farcical exercise of delimitation of constituencies to turn the Kashmiris into a minority in their own land," he added.
As for India's own 'unity and integrity', the spokesperson added that the RSS-BJP regime's record is replete with instances of most egregious violations of the rights of minorities, Muslims in particular.
"Voices from inside India, too, are questioning the current regime, and a 'minister' claiming enhanced unity is divorced from reality and nothing more than an amusing display of out-of-place hubris," he added.
The spokesperson reiterated Pakistan's principled position, saying that Kashmir never was and never will be a part of India.
"Ultimately, India will have to give in to the will of the Kashmiris and the commitment of international community as enshrined in numerous UNSC resolutions," he asserted.
Earlier in the day, Dr S Jaishankar, the Indian External Affairs Minister, tweeted: "Jammu and Kashmir has seen real Democracy, Development, Good Governance and Empowerment in the last two years. As a result, India's unity and integrity has been immeasurably strengthened."
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021