India lodges strong protest with Pakistan over election in Gilgit-Baltistan

India lodged a strong protest against Pakistan’s decision to hold Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly elections, reiterating that the region is an integral part of Jammu and Kashmir.

Published on: Jun 5, 2026, 19:32:54 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar, New Delhi

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India on Friday lodged a strong protest against the Pakistan government’s move to hold an election for the legislative assembly in Gilgit-Baltistan, a strategic mountainous region that New Delhi claims as part of the undivided erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Pakistan government plans to hold an election to the 33-member Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly on June 7. The polls were originally scheduled for January but were put off because of the harsh weather conditions in the region.

The external affairs ministry said India had lodged a strong protest with Pakistan regarding the holding of “general elections” to the “so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly’ in the Indian territories illegally and forcibly occupied by Pakistan”.

The Indian government reiterated its well-known position that the entire union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, “including the so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’”, are integral and inalienable parts of India as a result of “complete, legal and irrevocable accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India in 1947”, the ministry said in a statement.

The Indian side emphasised that “such endeavours by Pakistan cannot mask the underlying issues of grave human rights violations, political repression, economic exploitation and denial of freedom” in territories illegally occupied by Pakistan.

“The government of India categorically rejects any attempts by Pakistan to bring material change to areas under Pakistan’s illegal occupation, and underlines that such actions cannot hide the fact that Pakistan illegally remains in possession of Indian territories, which it must vacate,” the statement said.

India has protested against the holding of elections in Gilgit-Baltistan by Pakistani authorities in the past too. It has also lodged protests over the inclusion of the region in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

In 2018, the Pakistan government transferred the powers of an Islamabad-controlled council for Gilgit-Baltistan to a local assembly. Earlier, the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order issued in 2009 renamed the Northern Areas as Gilgit-Baltistan, and the region was given province-like status but without representation in Pakistan’s Parliament.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday reviewed security preparations for holding the election in Gilgit-Baltistan. More than 5,000 security personnel have been deployed in the region, and Sharif told interior minister Mohsin Naqvi during a meeting that the government will take every step to “support the democratic process”.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More

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