ISLAMABAD: Pakistan categorically rejected India’s pre-poll rigging attempts in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and called on the international community to take cognizance of its attempts at effecting illegal demographic changes in the region.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Foreign Office spokesperson said: “Pakistan categorically rejects the deliberate Indian attempts of pre-poll rigging and overt manipulation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir.”
The statement said that the latest act of permitting temporary residents in the occupied region to register as voters “is a clear manifestation of the treacherous Indian design to influence the outcome of ‘so-called’ elections” in the territory.
“Pakistan reiterates its complete rejection of India’s entire litany of steps aimed at turning the Muslim majority in [occupied Jammu and Kashmir] into a minority — including the formulation of the so-called ‘Delimitation’ Commission and its baseless report, the issuance of fake Kashmiri domiciles to millions of outsiders, and changes in the property laws,” the FO statement read.
Despite all reprehensible measures that have followed the illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, “India will not be able to break the will of the Kashmiri people or to mislead the world community”, the FO said.
India stripped semi-autonomy from occupied Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, changing the Indian constitution to allow non-Kashmiris to vote and own land there.
Pakistan has called on India to desist from all actions in occupied Jammu and Kashmir that violate the international law, the UN Charter, and the 4th Geneva Convention.
Furthermore it has demanded that India “release all political prisoners detained on trumped-up charges, halt human rights violations in the [occupied Jammu and Kashmir], lift the brutal military siege, and let the Kashmiris exercise their legitimate right to self-determination as stipulated in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions”.
Pakistan has appealed to the international community to take immediate cognizance of the blatant Indian attempts at effecting illegal demographic changes in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir and to hold India to account.
2.5 million new voters
India is expected to register as many as 2.5 million new voters in the occupied region, a top official said late on Wednesday, in a move local political parties said was an attempt to influence upcoming elections.
Chief Electoral Officer Hirdesh Kumar in occupied Jammu and Kashmir told reporters that more than 2 million new voters are expected to be enrolled in the region ahead of local polls due in November. The new registrants could increase the voter count by more than a third, adding to the existing 7.6 million voters in the region.
“We are expecting an addition of (2 to 2.5 million) new voters in the final list,” Kumar said, including non-Kashmiris living in the region.
Kashmiris fear the rule changes will allow the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to alter the demographics of the region, quelling a decades-long independence movement.
