The Pakistani government has admitted in the Islamabad High Court that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) is a foreign territory over which Pakistan has no jurisdiction. The unprecedented admission was made by Pakistan’s Deputy Attorney General on Friday (May 31) in the kidnapping case of Kashmiri poet and journalist Ahmed Farhad Shah.
The Islamabad court was hearing the case of Ahmed Farhad Shah, who was abducted from his home in Rawalpindi by Pakistani intelligence agencies on May 15.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani of the Islamabad High Court acted on a petition by the poet’s wife seeking to summon Farhad Shah before the court.
According to Pakistan Today, on Friday, Pakistan’s Deputy Attorney General argued before Justice Kayani that Farhad Shah was in police custody in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) and could not be produced before the Islamabad High Court.
According to a Pakistan Today report, the assistant attorney general said Kashmir is a foreign territory with its own constitution and courts and any judgment of a Pakistani court in Pakistani Kashmir will be treated as a judgment of a foreign court.
According to an AIR report, Justice Kayani countered that if Pakistan Oceania was a foreign territory, then how could the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Rangers have invaded its land.
During the hearing, Kayani criticised Pakistan’s intelligence agencies for continuing to carry out acts of forceful abduction of people.
During court arguments it emerged that Ahmed Farhad Shah is in Dilkot police custody and has two cases filed against him in Papua New Guinea.
The high court was hearing a petition filed by Farhad Shah’s wife regarding his abduction from his home by Pakistani intelligence agencies.
Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which has been under Pakistani occupation since 1947, is an integral part of India, and Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar recently reiterated this.
“POK has always been with India. And it will always be India,” Jaishankar said.
Ahmed Farhad Shah is a poet and journalist who is also an activist for the rights of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and its people. He is known for his strong criticism of the ruling establishment in the Islamic Republic. He has led and participated in several anti-government protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the past.
