Islamabad (Web Desk): Pakistan has categorically rejected the judgment announced by the Supreme Court of India on the status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Thursday, Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said the judicial endorsement of India's unilateral and illegal actions of August 5, 2019 is a travesty of justice, based on distorted historical and legal arguments.
He said India cannot abdicate its international obligations on the pretext of domestic legislations and judicial verdicts. Its plans to annex IIOJK are bound to fail.
"Indian Supreme Court's verdict fails to recognize the internationally-recognized disputed nature of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. It further fails to cater to the aspirations of the Kashmiri people, who have already rejected India's illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019," FM Jilani said, adding that the judgment is yet another manifestation of the pliant judiciary under India's ruling dispensation.
Jalil Abbas Jilani said that the restoration of statehood, conduct of State Assembly elections or similar steps cannot serve as a substitute to the grant of the right to self-determination to the Kashmiri people.
He said that the judgment cannot distract the international community's attention from the gross and systematic human rights violations being perpetrated in IIOJK.
"India's unilateral and illegal measures since August 5, 2019 have been aimed at changing the demographic structure and political landscape of the IIOJK, in flagrant violation of international law and the relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions, especially Resolution 122 of 1957. They remain a matter of grave concern for Pakistan as their ultimate goal is to convert the Kashmiris into a disempowered community in their own land," the foreign minister said said, urging that these measures must be rescinded to create an environment for peace and dialogue.
FM Jilani said that Pakistan will continue to extend its full political, diplomatic and moral support to the people of IIOJK for realisation of their inalienable right to self-determination.
Earlier on Monday, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that Article 370, which guaranteed special status to the IIOJK, was a temporary provision and that the occupied territory was an integral part of the country.
"We direct that steps shall be taken by the Election Commission of India to conduct elections to the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir by 30 September 2024," the court ruled.
The Indian top court pronounced its verdict on a set of pleas against New Delhi's 2019 imposition of direct rule in the IIOJK.