Reacting to India's objection to the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project that passes through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), a senior minister of the country claimed that Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir are not disputed territories and are part of "our country".
Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar made the angry retort on Tuesday during a session at the National Assembly after a fellow minister referred to Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir as "disputed territories".
"What disputed territory," Dar angrily questioned the minister and then continued to cite the economic benefits of the corridor, The Dawn reported.
"Gilgit-Baltistan is part of Pakistan. Azad Kashmir is part of Pakistan," he added.
Last month, after it emerged that a part of the 3,000 km corridor linking Pakistan's Gwadar port with Kashgar in China's north-western autonomous region of Xinjiang will pass through the Gilgit-Baltistan region, India had raised its concern on grounds that it passed through disputed territories.
Pakistan, however, has rejected India's claim. During his visit to Islamabad in April, Chinese President Xi Jinping had pledged an assistance of $46 billion to Pakistan to help it build a strategic economic corridor through the PoK.
