Held-Kashmir assembly has no authority to decide State’s future: Pak delegate

Pakistan reminded the international community Monday that the Constituent Assembly of Indian-occupied Kashmir has no authority to decide the future of the disputed State, saying it’s final disposition must be made by the will of Kashmiri people.  Reacting to statement made by a representative of India in the General Assembly’s Decolonization Committee, Pakistani delegate Tahir Andarabi, also said that Jammu and Kashmir is not an integral part of India, nor has it ever been.He said the UN Security Council had recognized that region as a  disputed territory. Earlier, speaking in the committee’s debate on decolonization matters, Indian representative Charan Das Mahant cliamed that Kashmir was an integral part of India, and that its people have regularly exercised their franchise in free and fair elections.
The Pakistan delegate challenged the Indian statement, citing several UN Security Council resolutions. “No electoral exercise conducted by Indian authorities in Jammu and Kashmir can substitute a free and impartial plebiscite mandated by these Security Council resolutions.”
“I would like to remind him (the Indian representative) that the Security Council in its resolution 91, denied the authority of the Constituent Assembly formed by India in occupied Kashmir, to decide the future of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and reminded the parties that final disposition of the State is to be made in accordance with the will of the people of Kashmir,” Andarabi said.
“Security Council resolution 122 of 24 January 1957 further reaffirmed that action taken by that Consituent Assembly  would not constitute disposition of the State in accordance with will of the people expressed through free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the UN auspices – App