Pakistan announces provincial status for Gilgit-Baltistan, India protests

Islamabad’s move on Gilgit-Baltistan appears to be an attempt to respond to New Delhi’s decision to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status

After Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday formally announced the elevation of ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’ as the fifth province of his country, New Delhi underlined that Islamabad had no locus standi on the region as it is an integral part of India.

New Delhi reiterated that the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh, including the area of so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’, were an integral part of India. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also stressed that accession of the erstwhile princely state of J&K to India in 1947 was “legal, complete and irrevocable”. “The Government of Pakistan has no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it,” Anurag Srivastava, the spokesperson of the MEA, stated in New Delhi.

Khan on Sunday announced his government’s decision to elevate Gilgit-Baltistan as a full-fledged province of Pakistan.

“The Government of India firmly rejects the attempt by Pakistan to bring material changes to a part of Indian territory, under its illegal and forcible occupation,” the MEA spokesperson stated in New Delhi. The MEA earlier also conveyed its strong protest to Islamabad over the Khan Government’s move to hold polls on November 15 next to elect the third legislative assembly of Gilgit Baltistan, which India claims to be its own and accuses Pakistan of illegally occupying.

The Pakistan Government held polls in Gilgit-Baltistan in 2009 and 2015 – electing a legislative assembly, despite protests from New Delhi. It is now preparing to hold the third assembly elections in the region on November 15.

The Khan Government recently initiated the move to elevate the status of Gilgit-Baltistan to a fully-fledged province of Pakistan with all constitutional rights, including representation in the upper and lower houses of parliament of the country.

New Delhi suspects that Islamabad’s all-weather ally Beijing may have nudged the Khan Government to turn Gilgit-Baltistan into a province of Pakistan. With several projects of the controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) located in Gilgit-Baltistan, Beijing wants Islamabad to end the ambiguity about the status of the region.

Islamabad’s move on Gilgit-Baltistan appears to be an attempt to respond to New Delhi’s August 5, 2019 decision to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and reorganize the erstwhile state into two Union Territories.

New Delhi earlier rejected the recent actions by the Pakistan Government on Gilgit-Baltistan, including the so-called “Gilgit-Baltistan (Elections and Caretaker Government) Amendment Order 2020”. It also opposed continued attempts by Islamabad to bring “material changes in areas under illegal and forcible occupation” of Pakistan.

“Such attempts by Pakistan, intended to camouflage its illegal occupation, cannot hide the grave human rights violations, exploitation and denial of freedom for over seven decades to the people residing in these Pakistan occupied territories,” said the MEA spokesperson. “Instead of seeking to alter the status of these Indian territories, we call upon Pakistan to immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation.”