July 16, 2020: India has raised objections to Pakistan and China continuing with their project of constructing the Diamer Bhasha Dam in the disputed area of Gilgit-Baltistan, in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

According to reports, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan visited and inaugurated the construction work of the mega hydroelectric project on Wednesday. He was accompanied by China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Chairman Lieutenant General (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa.

In his speech, Imran Khan said with this project, his government was going towards building the biggest dam in Pakistan's history, which will be their third big dam. China has made around 5,000 big dams, but have a total of about 80,000 dams, he added.

"The decision to build this dam was taken 50 years ago. There can be no better site for constructing a dam. It is a natural dam. This was decided 40-50 years ago and work on the project has begun today. This is one of the biggest reasons why we haven't progressed," he said.

In India, sources said that India's position on any project in PoK remains unchanged. The entire territory of the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India. India has always protested such activities in PoK with both China and Pakistan.

This is not the first time that the inauguration of the project was announced since the first time it was conceived 40 years ago.

In May, Pakistan signed an agreement with China under which Chinese firm would hold control of 70 per cent stakes in the joint venture.

The dam, part of a major hydro power plan, is being built jointly by state-run firm China Power and Pakistan Army's commercial wing, Frontier Works Organisation (FWO).

The Ministry of External Affairs had given a sharp reaction in May when this announcement was made as part of China's CPEC project (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor), which in the larger context is part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).