• India has lodged a strong protest on recent order by Supreme Court of Pakistan on the so-called “Gilgit-Baltistan” which is an interference in India’s internal affairs.
• The Supreme Court of Pakistan has extended its powers to Gilgit-Baltistan regarding the area’s constitutional status. 
• The order states that changes to the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan will be determined through a referendum which will be held within 14 days. It further read that until then, people living in the area and in Kashmir will be given fundamental human rights.
• According to India, entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, which also includes the so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’ has been, is and shall remain an integral part of India. Pakistan government or judiciary have no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it. Any action to alter the status of these occupied territories by Pakistan has no legal basis whatsoever.
• Geographical location on Gilgit Baltistan:
• Geographically, Gilgit-Baltistan is situated in the trans-Himalayan region on the northwestern corner of the Kashmir Valley, a part of which has been illegally occupied by Pakistan since it invaded the region after the partition of India.
• Gilgit-Baltistan was part of the formerly princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (then identified as the state of Kashmir and Jammu). Under the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, the princely state consisted of five regions.
• The five regions were: Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit Wazarat, and Gilgit Agency. With changing equations in the early 20th century after the formation of the USSR in 1917, the British took Gilgit Agency on a 60-year-lease from the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir in 1935.

Historical Background:

• After the Second World War, the British, unable to sustain pressure from India's freedom struggle, decided to partition the country into India and Pakistan.
• It gave the princely states the right to merge with either of the two provided their territory had geographical continuity with the nation they wished to accede to.
• The British also returned the Gilgit Agency to the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, 15 days after India attained independence. Gilgit again came under the direct rule of the Maharaja as a legal part of his state.
• After independence, both India and Pakistan went for territorial consolidation. The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir decided not to accede to either India or Pakistan. But, the situation soon changed as Pakistan invaded the princely state in October 1947.
• Pakistan captured a part of Kashmir by means of invasion and the entire Gilgit region - generally called Gilgit-Baltistan - by the treachery of British military officer of the Maharaja.
• Under lease, Gilgit-Baltistan was protected by a British-controlled force called the Gilgit Scouts. After the British terminated the lease, they loaned two of their officers - Major W A Brown and Captain A S Mathieson - to the Maharaja for the purpose of looking after the defence of Gilgit-Baltistan till an alternative arrangement was found.
• But as Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession on October 31 in 1947, Major Brown revolted and captured King's governor Brigadier Ghansara Singh. Major Brown then informed this former British boss stationed at Peshawar about his decision to accede to Pakistan.
• The British decision was influenced by their understanding of the reactions of the Arab nations with regard to formation of Pakistan. The British did not want to antagonise the oil-rich nations by apparently taking an anti-Muslim stand at a time when the fears of Soviet communism dominated the West.
• Major Brown defected on November 1 and the Pakistani forces occupied Gilgit-Baltistan on November 4. Since then, Gilgit-Baltistan has been under Pakistan's administrative control.