Pak rejects India's protest over AJK, says Delhi's claim illegal

Pakistan on Thursday rejected India's protest against its move to alter the status of territories occupied by Islamabad in Kashmir, saying New Delhi's claim over the region has no legal basis.

India this week had lodged strong protest with Pakistan over the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution (13th Amendment) Act, 2018, which abolished occupied Kashmir's Councils's administrative and financial powers, reducing it to an advisory body.

The Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement that Pakistan categorically rejects India's protest and its "fallacious and baseless claim" over Kashmir as an integral part of India.

The Indian claim has no legal basis and continues to be contradicted by the situation on ground since the last seven decades. The entire state of Jammu & Kashmir is a 'disputed' territory, it said.

The FO said that the disputed status of Kashmir was enshrined in the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, which stipulated that the final status of Jammu and Kashmir will be determined through the democratic method of a transparent, free and fair plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations to ascertain the wishes of the Kashmiris.

These resolutions, pledging the right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir, are accepted by India, Pakistan and the international community, it said.

"Instead of making frivolous protests and issuing legally untenable and uncalled for statements, India should take steps to...fulfil its international obligations and expedite resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in line with the UN Security Council Resolutions," said the FO.