MIRPUR: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Masood Khan dismissed India’s objections to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as fake and disingenuous.
Khan, while addressing a one-day international seminar on ‘Belt and Road Initiative: CPEC and regional integration’ organised by The Institute of International and Cultural Affairs, said that the Pak-China project will pass through the Pakistan-owned Kashmir.
“The territory does not belong to India,” he said. “It was not a stakeholder in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir; it never was, it was known in the region as an occupier and denier of the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.”
“Is India concerned that the people of Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir and Pakistan will become prosperous? Or does its anxiety stem from the fear that Kashmir will be internationalised?” he asked.
India had raised its concerns over CPEC routes saying that the project will pass through the Indian part of Kashmir. Pakistan and China, however, denied India’s claims.
