Islamabad
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asserted that India lacks the authority to question references to Jammu and Kashmir in the Pakistan-China Joint Statement issued after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s talks on June 8 in Beijing.
The Pakistan Foreign Office stated, Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally-recognized disputed territory. The dispute has been on the UN Security Council’s agenda for over seven decades. They emphasized that Security Council resolutions specify that the final status of Jammu and Kashmir should be determined through a democratic and impartial plebiscite conducted by the United Nations.
The statement further asserted that India’s claims over Jammu and Kashmir are baseless. The joint statement by Pakistan and China on June 8 highlighted that the “Jammu and Kashmir dispute is a historical issue that should be resolved peacefully.” India responded by rejecting the references to Jammu and Kashmir in the joint statement as ‘unwarranted.’
Jaiswal also criticized the mention of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the joint statement, noting that some projects are in territories that India considers illegally occupied by Pakistan. He reiterated India’s opposition to any moves that legitimize Pakistan’s occupation of these areas.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, countered by stating that India should not mislead the international community about CPEC, a key project under China’s One Belt One Road initiative. She urged India to implement UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir instead of making baseless claims about CPEC.
