The Pakistani government has acknowledged before the Islamabad High Court that Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) is considered foreign territory and that Pakistan does not possess jurisdiction over it. This rare admission was made on Friday (May 31) by Pakistan’s Additional Attorney General during the hearing of the kidnapping case involving Kashmiri poet and journalist Ahmed Farhad Shah.

The Islamabad court was hearing the case of Ahmed Farhad Shah, who was abducted from his home in Rawalpindi by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies on May 15.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani of the Islamabad High Court requested for Farhad Shah to be produced in court, following a petition filed by the poet’s wife.

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On Friday, Pakistan’s Additional Attorney General argued before Justice Kayani that Farhad Shah was in police custody in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) and therefore he could not be produced before the Islamabad High Court, as reported by Pakistan Today.

The Additional Attorney General stated that Kashmir is a foreign territory with its own constitution and its own courts, and judgments of Pakistani courts in POK appear as judgments of foreign courts, according to the Pakistan Today report.

Justice Kayani countered that if POK was considered a foreign territory, then how did the Pakistani military and Pakistani Rangers enter the land, as reported by AIR.

During the hearing, Kayani criticized Pakistan’s intelligence agencies for continuing the practice of forced abductions of people. During the court proceedings, it was revealed that Ahmed Farhad Shah is currently held in custody by Dhirkot police in POK, and he is facing two cases there.

The high court was considering a petition filed by Farhad Shah’s wife concerning his abduction from their residence in Rawalpindi by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies.

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