India has no right to object to Pakistan-China statement on Kashmir: FO

• FO spokesperson says Jammu and Kashmir "disputed territory".
• "As per UNSC, territory's fate to be decided through plebiscite".
• Indian claims over Kashmir totally unfounded, misplaced, she says.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch has rejected the comments by India's External Affairs Ministry on joint Pakistan and China statement pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir, demanding India to implement United Nations' resolutions on the territory.

"India has no right to object to the references made to Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan-China Joint Statement of June 8," the FO spokesperson said late Wednesday night.

The statement came in response to media queries regarding the Indian ministry's comments on June 13. Baloch said Jammu and Kashmir was a disputed territory and the dispute was on UN Security Council's (UNSC) agenda.

In the joint Pakistan-China statement, Pakistan had briefed the Chinese government on the latest developments of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

In the statement, the "Chinese side reiterated that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is left over from history, and should be properly and peacefully resolved in accordance with the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements”.

India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had “rejected unwarranted references to Jammu and Kashmir” by Pakistan and China.

“We have noted unwarranted references to Jammu and Kashmir in the joint statement between China and Pakistan. We categorically reject such references,” Jaiswal said.

“The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh have been, are, and will always remain integral and inalienable parts of India,” he had maintained.

FO Spokesperson Baloch said it was an established fact that Jammu and Kashmir was an internationally-recognised disputed territory and the dispute had been on the agenda of the UNSC for more than seven decades.

She added that the relevant UNSC resolutions clearly stipulated that the final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir would be made as per the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the UN. 

In that backdrop, the Indian claims over Jammu and Kashmir were totally unfounded and misplaced, she insisted.

“India should not mislead the international community about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is a flagship developmental endeavour, agreed upon by two sovereign nations,” the spokesperson said.

Instead of making baseless claims about the CPEC, Baloch said, India should implement, at the earliest, the relevant UNSC resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.