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ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Sunday (November 1) that his government will grant provisional provincial status to part of Kashmir, prompting condemnation from India, which has long opposed any change in this guy from Islamabad.
Khan’s proposal would apply to Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan’s only land link with China, which is the northern part of the larger Kashmir region. Both Delhi and Islamabad have claimed all of Kashmir since gaining independence 73 years ago and have fought two wars over territory.
“We have made the decision to grant the provisional provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan, which has long been the demand here,” Khan said in a speech in Gilgit city.
Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Shri Anurag Srivastava said Delhi “strongly rejects Pakistan’s attempt to introduce material changes in a part of Indian territory, under its illegal and forced occupation.”
Last year, India infuriated Pakistan by announcing changes to Kashmir’s status, taking away some of the privileges of the region. Although Pakistani officials did not establish any link between India’s earlier move and Khan’s proposals, the Pakistani action is likely to be seen in both countries as a partial tit-for-tat response.
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Both sides control parts of Kashmir, which is divided between them by a “Line of Control” ordered by the United Nations. UN observers are still stationed in the region.
Kashmir has had a vague constitutional status in both countries since 1947 to accommodate a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution on the dispute. While not all details were immediately revealed, it seems likely that Khan’s proposal will bring the region closer to the status of Pakistan’s other federated provinces.
Khan said the decision was within the scope of the UNSC resolution. He did not give a deadline for its implementation. Such a move would require a constitutional amendment in Pakistan, which must be approved by two-thirds of Pakistan’s parliament.
Khan’s visit to the area comes ahead of elections for a Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly, to be held on November 15. The body, created in 2009, has few powers and the region is largely governed directly by Islamabad.
India’s Foreign Ministry has already opposed the elections, saying Pakistan is illegally occupying the territory.
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Strategically located Gilgit-Baltistan, with an estimated population of 1.2 million, borders Afghanistan and China, and is at the center of the US $ 65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor infrastructure development plan.
Islamabad’s similar plans to adjust its status were previously shelved over concerns that it would negatively affect Pakistan’s case at the United Nations for full control of Kashmir.
