New Delhi, May 7: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has started referring to its meteorological sub-division of Jammu and Kashmir as "Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad" in its weather forecast updates. The change in name is reflecting on the official website of IMD. Muzaffarabad is "capital" of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), while Gilgit-Baltistan is also under illegal Pakistani occupation. Coronavirus: Sindh, PoK Governments Abandon Kashmiri Migrant Workers.

The IMD's move came days after the Pakistan Supreme Court’s decision to allow the federal government to set up a caretaker government and hold provincial assembly elections in Gilgit-Baltistan. India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had lodged a "strong protest" against the decision, saying Pakistani institutions had "no locus standi on territories illegally or forcibly occupied by it". Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry had rejected India's allegations.

After the central government, in August last year, withdrew Jammu and Kashmir's special status granted under Article 370 of the Indian constitution, the Ministry of Home Affairs released the new map of India depicting PoK with Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan as a part of the newly-created union territory of Ladakh. The erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir has also been reorganised as the new union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

India recently asked Pakistan to immediately vacate all areas of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh under its illegal occupation. In an order in January, Pakistan's apex court had said that Gilgit-Baltistan comes within its domain after the Imran Khan government took a series of steps to constitutionally strengthen its hold on to the region last year.

The government has conveyed to Pakistan that India's position in the matter, "is reflected in the resolution passed by Parliament in 1994 by consensus". The resolution has unanimously declared that the entire Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of India by virtue of its fully legal and irrevocable accession.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 07, 2020 09:59 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).