India slams Pak over ‘farcical resolution’

NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday rejected what it described as a “farcical resolution” passed by Pakistan’s Parliament opposing the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir and said Pakistan has no locus standi to interfere in the country’s internal matters.

The resolution, which was presented in Pakistan’s National Assembly by foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari last week, called on India to immediately halt and reverse what it said were “unilateral and illegal actions” in J&K and to fulfil its obligations under United Nations (UN) resolutions.

Responding to the passage of the resolution, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said: “We categorically reject the farcical resolution passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan on the subject of the delimitation exercise in the Indian UT of J&K.”

He added, “Pakistan has no locus standi to pronounce on or interfere in matters that are internal to India, including the Indian territories under Pakistan’s illegal and forcible occupation.” The whole of the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh “has been, is and shall always remain an integral part of India”, Bagchi said.

The delimitation in J&K is a “democratic exercise based on the principles of extensive stakeholder consultation and participation”, he pointed out.