FO rejects Indian FM’s ‘baseless claims’ on AJK, asks to vacate occupied Kashmir
Islamabad: The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday rejected remarks made by India’s foreign minister on Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) as “baseless claims” while asking his country to vacate occupied areas of the territory.
The statement comes a day after India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, speaking during a session at the Chatham House think-tank in London on Wednesday, referring to AJK, said the Kashmir dispute would be solved after the “return of the stolen part of Kashmir which is under illegal Pakistani occupation”.
Responding to those statements during a weekly press briefing on Thursday, FO spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said: “Instead of making baseless claims about Azad Jammu and Kashmir, India should vacate the large territories of Jammu and Kashmir under its occupation from the last 77 years.
“We reject the remarks made by the Indian external affairs minister on Jammu and Kashmir during an event held at Chatham House, London, on 5th March 2025,” Shafqat stated.
Noting that India illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir was an internationally recognised disputed territory, the FO official said Jaishankar’s remarks “misrepresent the ground realities and contravene the international law”.
“The relevant UN Security Council resolutions stipulate that the final status of Jammu and Kashmir is to be determined through a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices. India’s prevarication cannot change this reality,” Shafqat asserted.
Responding to the Indian minister’s claims about the elections held in IIOJK last year, the FO spokesperson said: “We also wish to underscore that any electoral exercise pursuant to the Indian constitution cannot serve as a substitute to grant of right to self-determination.”
The FO official said India “must realise that a peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and wishes of the Kashmiri people is imperative for a lasting peace in South Asia”.
