Pakistani Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) are not disputed territories but a "part of Pakistan".
According to Dawn News, the minister's statement came in response to India's objections to the planned China-Pakistan Economic Corridor on the ground that its route passed though "a disputed territory in Pakistan-controlled part of Jammu and Kashmir state".
Dar, citing the expected economic benefits of the corridor as a "game-changer" in the region, angrily exclaimed ""what disputed territory".
China has pledged an investment of $46 billion for a mega project to link Pakistan's Gwadar port with Kashgar in China's north-western autonomous region of Xinjiang that will pass through the Gilgit-Baltistan region.