By Iftikhar Mashwani
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has firmly rejected India’s assertions regarding Jammu and Kashmir, maintaining that New Delhi’s claims contradict internationally recognised facts and relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan made the remarks while responding to media queries about a statement issued by India’s Ministry of External Affairs concerning the map of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region.
The spokesperson said India’s unilateral measures and continued occupation could not change the internationally recognised disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir.
He stressed that the Kashmir dispute remains one of the oldest unresolved issues on the agenda of the UN Security Council.
According to the Foreign Office, the relevant Security Council resolutions clearly provide that the final status of Jammu and Kashmir must be determined in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
Those wishes, it said, should be expressed through a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under United Nations supervision.
Pakistan further stated that official UN maps continue to depict Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory and remain the authoritative cartographic representation of its present legal status.
The Foreign Office maintained that India’s official maps, unilateral territorial claims and assertions of sovereignty have no legal bearing on the internationally disputed status of the region.
