Pakistan on Monday rejected the judgment announced by the Supreme Court of India on the status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

“The judicial endorsement of India’s unilateral and illegal actions of August 5, 2019 is a travesty of justice, based on distorted historical and legal arguments,” Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad.

Earlier today, India’s top court said the special status given to the IIOJK before its revocation in 2019 was a temporary provision.

Supreme Court of India in its decision announced that the occupied territory became an integral part of India “which is evident from Article 1 and 370 of the constitution”, NDTV reported.

Jilani said that the Indian top court’s verdict failed to consider the internationally-recognised disputed nature of the Jammu and Kashmir issue.

He went on to add that the ruling failed to cater to the aspirations of the Kashmiri people, who have already rejected India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019. The judgment is yet another manifestation of the pliant judiciary under India’s ruling dispensation, he added.

India cannot abdicate its international obligations on the pretext of domestic legislations and judicial verdicts, he said, adding: “Its plans to annex IIOJK are bound to fail.”

“The restoration of statehood, conduct of State Assembly elections or similar steps cannot serve as a substitute to the grant of the right to self-determination to the Kashmiri people,” the foreign minister stated.

The judgment cannot distract the international community’s attention from the gross and systematic human rights violations being perpetrated in IIOJK, he added.

Jilani alleged that India’s unilateral measures since August 5, 2019 have been aimed at changing the demographic structure and political landscape of the IIOJK, in violation of international law and the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, especially Resolution 122 of 1957.

The Indian measures remain a matter of concern for Pakistan as their ultimate goal is to convert the Kashmiris into a disempowered community in their land, he said, adding that these measures must be rescinded to create an environment for peace and dialogue.

He reiterated that Pakistan will continue to extend its full political, diplomatic and moral support to the people of IIOJK for the realisation of their right to self-determination.