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India Rejects Pakistani Plan to Upgrade Status of Disputed Kashmir Area

© AFP 2023 / AMELIE HERENSTEINIn this picture taken on August 20, 2019 porters and their mules make their way down from Baltoro glacier in the Karakoram range of Pakistan's mountain northern Gilgit region. - Northern Pakistan is home to some of the tallest mountains in the world, including K2, the world's second highest peak. Mountaineers have long been drawn to the area by the challenging climbs.
In this picture taken on August 20, 2019 porters and their mules make their way down from Baltoro glacier in the Karakoram range of Pakistan's mountain northern Gilgit region. - Northern Pakistan is home to some of the tallest mountains in the world, including K2, the world's second highest peak. Mountaineers have long been drawn to the area by the challenging climbs. - Sputnik International
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NEW DELHI (Sputnik) - New Delhi rejected on Sunday Islamabad's plan to grant provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan, a strategic Pakistani-held part of the disputed Kashmir region, which is claimed by the two rivals.
"The Government of India firmly rejects the attempt by Pakistan to bring material changes to a part of Indian territory", Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said.

The proposal was announced earlier in the day by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan during a visit to the area on the border with China. Gilgit-Baltistan is key to the Pakistani-Chinese infrastructure project.

India, which has been locked in a standoff with both Pakistan and China, sees the northern Kashmiri area as being "illegally and forcibly occupied." Srivastava demanded that Pakistan immediately vacate Gilgit-Baltistan.

Last week, Islamabad decided to give the autonomous region, which borders India's Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh regions, the status of a Pakistani province. It also plans to hold elections there on 15 November. New Delhi considers Gilgit-Baltistan to be a part of its Jammu and Kashmir area.

Last year, the Indian government announced its decision to strip the Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir region of its special status and split it into two union territories, provoking a sharp reaction from neighboring Pakistan, which claimed New Delhi was mistreating the region's Muslim population.

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