Gilgit-Baltistan election: India protests Pak’s move, calls it cosmetic exercise
Live MintIndia on Tuesday said Pakistan’s attempts to hold elections in Gilgit-Baltistan next month were a “cosmetic” exercise “intended to camouflage its illegal occupation” of the region. The Indian foreign ministry in a statement said actions like holding of elections in the region can neither hide the "illegal occupation" of parts of Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh by Islamabad nor the "grave human rights violations and exploitation" of people in Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir. "The government of India has conveyed its strong protest to the government of Pakistan and reiterated that the entire Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of so-called Gilgit and Baltistan are an integral part of India by virtue of its accession in 1947," the Indian statement said. "Action such as these can neither hide the illegal occupation of parts of Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh by Pakistan nor the grave human rights violations, exploitation and denial of freedom to the people residing in Pakistan occupied territories for the past seven decades," it said.