No proposal for PoK merger with Pakistan: FO

Islamabad: Pakistan has rejected reports that the government intended to merge Pakistan-occupied Kashmir with the country, saying there is no such proposal.

Pakistani daily Dawn reported that the speculation about the merger had been doing the rounds for a little over six weeks now. It started with comments attributed to Farooq Haider Khan that he had been told that he would be the last “prime minister” of the PoK.

The rumours grew after the government renamed one of the bureaucracy’s service group, the daily said.

“There is no such proposal under consideration, Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said on Thursday when asked about the reports.

She also rejected that the government was thinking to bring new regulation to change the status of Gilgit-Baltistan. It is media speculation I, do not wish to comment on it, she said in response to a question.

Such rumours on PoK merger grew often louder ahead of Kashmir related events which are observed in Pakistan. A similar event is scheduled to take place on February 5 which is observed as ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day.’

After India revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcated the state into two union territories, there had been media speculation that Pakistan may follow the same path.

India maintains that PoK is its part and New Delhi expects to have physical jurisdiction over it one day.