New Delhi: India on Friday evening lodged a strong protest with Pakistan over Islamabad’s plan to hold “general elections” on June 7 to the so-called Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

New Delhi reiterated that the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the so-called Gilgit-Baltistan, are integral and inalienable parts of India following the complete, legal and irrevocable accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India in 1947.

The government said Pakistan’s actions could not mask grave human rights violations, political repression, economic exploitation and denial of freedom in territories illegally occupied by it.

India categorically rejected any attempt by Pakistan to bring material changes to areas under its illegal occupation and said such actions could not hide the fact that Pakistan remains in illegal possession of Indian territory, which it must vacate.