Pakistan rejects India’s ‘baseless assertions’ on disputed Jammu and Kashmir status

• Indian claims “contrary” to globally recognised facts: FO.
• Jammu and Kashmir among oldest unresolved disputes: FO.
• FO spox calls for right to self-determination of IIOJK people

Pakistan on Monday rejected India’s assertions regarding the map of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region, saying Delhi’s claims were “contrary to internationally recognised facts”.

“India’s unilateral actions and continued illegal occupation cannot alter the internationally recognised disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said in a statement.

His remarks came in response to a statement by the Indian foreign ministry, calling for depicting the disputed Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh regions in accordance with India’s official map.

The FO spokesperson said that official United Nations maps, which depict Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory, remain the only cartographic representation of its current legal status.

“India’s so-called official maps and unilateral claims of sovereignty have no bearing on the status of the disputed territory,” Khan added.

According to the FO spokesperson, the Jammu and Kashmir dispute remains one of the oldest unresolved, internationally recognised disputes on the agenda of the UN Security Council.

“The relevant UN resolutions stipulate that its final disposition must be made in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions and the will of the Kashmiri people, expressed through a free and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices,” he said.

The FO spokesperson urged the international community to ensure that India immediately stops human rights violations in the Indian Illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and fulfils its commitment towards the realisation of the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people, in line with the relevant UNSC resolutions.

The United Nations General Assembly on September 4 voted to adopt a new world map that makes the African continent bigger while shrinking North America and Europe, drawing ire from Washington.

Aimed at “a more accurate representation” of continental landmasses, the resolution was supported by 164 countries while the United States voted against it and six other states abstained.

The new map — known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection — improves “the accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world,” the resolution said.