India lodged a protest on Friday against Islamabad granting the self-governance package to Gilgit-Baltistan and plans to build a multi-billion-dollar dam in the area, which Delhi terms ‘disputed territory’.

Below is an article published by Daily Times :

India lodged a protest on Friday against Islamabad granting the self-governance package to Gilgit-Baltistan and plans to build a multi-billion-dollar dam in the area, which Delhi terms ‘disputed territory’.

The dam is being built in the Astore district of Gilgit Baltistan with the help of China.

The Indian government “lodged a protest today over the proposed construction of the Bunji Hydroelectric Project in a part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir under illegal occupation of Pakistan,” an Indian statement said. Indian Foreign office spokesman Vishnu Prakash said Delhi had protested against Islamabad’s recent ‘Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order –2009’.He claimed the entire Jammu and Kashmir region was an integral part of India by virtue of 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,” he said.

He said India had also lodged a protest against the proposed 7,000 MW Bunji hydroelectric project being built in the Astore region of Gilgit-Baltistan. The protest by New Delhi came as India and Pakistan remain at odds over the construction of the Tulbul dam in Indian-held Kashmir that is fed by the waters of the Jhelum river.