British Parliament resolution accuses Pakistan of ‘illegally occupying Gilgit-Baltistan’

An early day motion number 1107, sponsored by Conservative Party leader Bob Blackman was tabled in the British Parliament Session 2016-17 on March 23. It was passed as condemnation for Pakistan with regards to the plans to declare Gilgit-Baltistan as its fifth Province.

The resolution contends that the area is a legal part of Jammu & Kashmir which has been a disputed territory since 1947.

The motion reads: “Gilgit-Baltistan is a legal and constitutional part of the state of Jammu & Kashmir, India, which is illegally occupied by Pakistan since 1947.”

The motion further claims that attempts to change the demography of the region was in violation of State Subject Ordinance and that the ‘forced and illegal construction’ of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) further interfered with the disputed territory.

Chinese foreign affairs ministry spokesperson meanwhile said that Beijing was ready to work with Islamabad to take forward the CPEC to benefit the people of both countries.

The CPEC is a $51.5 billion road project that aims to connect Kashgar, in China’s western province of Xinjiang, with the port of Gwadar in the Pakistani province of Balochistan

Source: The Nation