FO rejects Indian SC order on held Kashmir

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday rejected a fresh order by the Indian Sup­reme Court, which upheld its earlier ruling that endorsed the Modi government’s unilateral decision to revoke the special status of held Kashmir by abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution.

“We reject the fresh order of the Indian Sup­reme Court just as we had rejected the earlier order of December 11, 2023. Two verdicts fail to recognise the internationally recognised disputed nature of Jammu and Kashmir... Indian Supreme Court judgments cannot distract the international community’s attention from the gross and systemic human rights violation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mum­taz Zahra Baloch said at her weekly press briefing.

She said Kashmiris had an inalienable right to self-determination as enshri­ned in the UN Security Council’s resolutions.

India has no right to make unilateral decisions on the status of disputed territory against the will of parties in the dispute — Kashmiris and Pakistan, she added.

The spokesperson also welcomed an announcement by Ireland, Spain and Norway to recognise the Palestine state, following a similar announcement by Bahamas, Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados, and called it a milestone in the decades-old quest of the Palestinian people for their right to self-determination.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2024