New Delhi
11 September 2009
India on Friday lodged a protest with Pakistan against its decision to construct
the Bunji hydroelectric project in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) with China's help and
for promulgating the so-called Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order
2009 as part of a reforms package for the Northern Areas.
Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner Rifat Masood was summoned to the Ministry of
External Affairs where the letters were handed over to her.
The Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that the entire state of Jammu and
Kashmir was an integral part of India by virtue of its accession in 1947.
"The so called 'Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order 2009' is yet
another cosmetic exercise intended to camouflage Pakistan's illegal occupation," it said.
"Pakistan has for the past six decades denied the basic democratic rights to the people
in those parts of the state of Jammu and Kashmir under its illegal occupation," it added.
The reforms and self-governance package, which was approved by Islamabad on August
29, was seen as a step towards merger of the Northern Areas with Pakistan. Northern
Areas, which are part of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, had so far been directly ruled by
Islamabad.
As part of the governance and reforms package for the Northern Areas, Islamabad
renamed it as Gilgit-Baltistan and gave it a Pakistani province-like status.
New Delhi also protested against the construction of the Bunji dam in Pakistan-Occupied
Kashmir.
In a separate statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said India lodged a protest over
the proposed construction of the Bunji hydroelectric project "in a part of the state of
Jammu and Kashmir under illegal occupation of Pakistan."
During his China visit in August, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari signed a
memorandum of understanding on the construction of a hydropower station at Bunji in
the Northern Areas of Pakistan. The agreement was signed between Pakistan's Ministry
of Water and Power and China's Three Gorges Project Corporation.
The proposed Bunji dam was estimated to cost up to seven billion dollars and would
have a capacity to generate 7,000 megawatts of electricity. Under the deal, undertaken
on a build-operate-transfer basis, all the investment will be made by Chinese
entrepreneurs.
Earlier, India had lodged her protest over proposed construction of Neelum-Jhelum
Power Project and Basha Dam in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
No comments:
Post a Comment