ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has firmly rejected Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s remarks regarding Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), labeling them as misleading and inconsistent with international law.
The statement came from Foreign Office spokesperson Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan during his weekly press briefing on Thursday.
Ambassador Shafqat dismissed Jaishankar’s comments, made on March 5, 2025, at Chatham House in London, as a distortion of facts. He reiterated that Jammu and Kashmir remains an internationally recognized disputed territory, with its final status to be determined through a UN-supervised plebiscite, in line with United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.
The spokesperson emphasized that India’s claims over AJK are legally invalid, and no electoral process under the Indian Constitution can supersede the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination. He also stressed that economic measures imposed under military occupation cannot address the longstanding grievances of the Kashmiri people.
Reaffirming Pakistan’s stance, Shafqat called on India to vacate the territories it has illegally occupied for 77 years. He stressed that a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute, in accordance with UNSC resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people, is essential for regional stability.
Earlier, during his speech at Chatham House, Jaishankar claimed that the Kashmir issue would only be resolved once the “stolen part” of Kashmir, under Pakistan’s “illegal occupation,” was returned. He also argued that the revocation of Article 370 in 2019 and the October 2024 elections in Jammu and Kashmir were steps toward resolving the dispute.
Pakistan strongly rejected these claims, maintaining that India’s actions in Jammu and Kashmir violate international law and UNSC resolutions. The revocation of Article 370 in August 2019 by India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which stripped occupied Kashmir of its special status, was later upheld by the Indian Supreme Court in December 2023.
