Day 391: India Lodges Formal Protest Over Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly Elections — Reiterates Territory Is 'Integral and Inalienable Part of India'

June 5, 2026 marks Day 391 of the India-Pakistan ceasefire established on May 10, 2025. India's Ministry of External Affairs lodged a strong formal diplomatic protest with Pakistan on June 5 over the elections to the 'Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly' scheduled for June 7, 2026. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal reiterated that the entire Gilgit-Baltistan region is an 'integral and inalienable part' of India that is 'illegally and forcibly occupied by Pakistan.' India accused Pakistan of committing grave human rights violations, political repression, and economic exploitation in the territory. India's formal protest is consistent with its longstanding position of objecting to every Pakistani election, census, or governance activity in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir as endorsement of occupation. The June 7 GB Assembly elections are particularly sensitive because Pakistan's 2020 upgrade of Gilgit-Baltistan to quasi-provincial status — and subsequent electoral activity — represents an attempt to consolidate territorial claims in what India considers occupied sovereign territory. India's protest comes a day after Pakistan's Chief Election Commissioner separately announced Gilgit-Baltistan local government elections for August 2. India also called attention to Pakistan's systematic cultural, demographic, and developmental activities in the territory that India views as part of a long-term consolidation strategy. Separately, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal formally reaffirmed at the weekly press briefing on June 5 that the Indus Waters Treaty remains 'in abeyance' and will not be restored until Pakistan 'credibly and irrevocably' ends cross-border terrorism support. India reiterated its rejection of the Permanent Court of Arbitration's May 15, 2026 Supplemental Award as 'null and void' issued by an 'illegally constituted tribunal.' Pakistan hailed the May 15 PCA ruling as a 'huge legal win'; India's June 5 reaffirmation makes clear the IWT dispute will remain frozen as part of India's broader post-Pahalgam strategic posture. The ceasefire holds at Day 391 with no LOC violations since May 10, 2025. The bilateral freeze — no ambassadors, $0 formal trade, Pakistan airspace ban through June 23-24, four back-channel contacts the only bilateral interaction — continues.