PoK activist raises 'Merge Gilgit-Baltistan with India' demand at UNHRC as Imran plots

PoK rights activist Amjad Ayub Mirza on Thursday raised a demand at the United Nations Human Rights Council to merge Pakistan occupied areas of Gilgit Baltistan with India. Speaking at the 45th Regular Session of Human Rights Council, Amjad Ayub Mirza said that the world seems to be "hypnotised by the fake narratives spun by the Pakistani government" and the people are "desperate to gain freedom" from the hands of the Pakistani occupation.

'The world seems to have turned a blind eye'

"For the last 70 years, we have urged the United Nations to address the case of foreign occupation of Pakistani occupied Jammu and Kashmir. However, the world seems to be hypnotised by the fake narratives spun by the Pakistani government. Under CPEC, our rivers are being diverted for hydropower projects causing water shortage. The projects would destroy forever, the ecology of our region. Scores of young men from Gilgit-Baltistan are serving 70-90 years imprisonment for protesting against the blunder of our national resources. Anti-terrorism laws are used as a tool to crush any dissent," he said.

"Our women refuse to take cover during the cross-border firing at the Line of Control because the Pakistani soldiers in the bunker molest them. They attacked my homeland of Mirpur in October 1947 and the world seems to have turned a blind eye towards the history and our ongoing sufferings under the hands of the Pakistani occupation. My people are desperate to gain freedom and join Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in the Indian Union Territory. I demand that the United Nations lend me her ears if she wants to end the desperation of my people," the activist added.

Pak to elevate Gilgit-Baltistan to full-fledged province

Meanwhile, Pakistan has decided to elevate Gilgit-Baltistan's status to that of a full-fledged province, a Pakistani media report on Thursday quoted a senior minister as saying. India has clearly conveyed to Pakistan that the entire union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of the country by virtue of its fully legal and irrevocable accession.

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The Government of Pakistan or its judiciary has no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it. India completely rejects such actions and continued attempts to bring material changes in Pakistan occupied areas of the Indian territory of Jammu & Kashmir. Instead, Pakistan should immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation, the Ministry of External Affairs said in May while protesting Islamabad's efforts to bring material change in Pakistan occupied territories.

According to a report in the Express Tribune, Minister for Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs, Ali Amin Gandapur, on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan would soon visit the region and make the formal announcement to elevate Gilgit-Baltistan to the status of a full-fledged province with all constitutional rights.

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