By Imran Nasir

ISLAMABAD (TSAT) - Pakistan on Thursday rejected the "unwarranted and preposterous" comments by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on the joint statement issued by Islamabad and Beijing following Prime Minister Imran Khan's recent visit to China.

In a statement, Pakistan Foreign Ministry said the New Delhi's claim over occupied Kashmir "baseless" as Kashmir is not part of India.

"New Delhi’s baseless claims over Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) can neither change the facts of history nor the legal status of the Jammu & Kashmir dispute. IIOJK never was and never will be India’s 'integral part,'" said the Pakistan Foreign Ministry.

"Irrefutable fact remains that India is an occupation force in IIOJK in clear violation of the relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, and its illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019, seeking to change the internationally recognised disputed status of IIOJK and to alter its demographic structure, have been rejected by the Kashmiris, by Pakistan, and by the international community."

The Foreign Ministry vowed that Islamabad will continue to extend all possible support to the people of occupied Kashmiri in their just struggle against India’s illegal occupation.

"Rather than resorting to false and misleading assertions without success, India must vacate its illegal occupation of the disputed territory, immediately reverse its illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 and let Kashmiris exercise their inalienable right to self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations as enshrined in the relevant UNSC resolutions," it said.

Moreover, the FO stated that Pakistan "strongly rejects India’s persistent propaganda against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)".

"Pakistan has shared irrefutable evidence of India’s sinister campaign to sabotage the CPEC through its dossiers released in 2020 and 2021," the FO statement read.

The FO said also mentioned that there was strong evidence of Indian involvement in recent sinister attempts to stir up unrest in Balochistan by supporting anti-state elements.

Besides, naval commander Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian spy, was a "living and irrefutable proof" of how India had been seeking to sponsor and patronise subversive activities in Pakistan and the region, the FO added.

On Wednesday, the Indian foreign ministry spokesman said that New Delhi reject the reference of Jammu and Kashmir in the joint statement of Chinese President and Pakistani Prime Minister meeting in Beijing.

India also claimed that CPEC is passing from area which is forcefully occupied by Pakistan.

In the joint statement, China and Pakistan rejected the India unilateral actions of August 2019 and said Kashmir is disputed territory and it will resolve under the UNSC resolutions.