The Foreign Office (FO) on Tuesday rejected the "utterly delusional and provocative" remarks by an Indian minister belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who called for the "integration" of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in India.

The FO statement did not name the minister but comes after Indian minister Kapil Patil expressed the hope that AJK would be integrated into India by 2024. According to a report by The Indian Express, Patil expressed the views while addressing an event on Saturday.

"[AJK] will get integrated into India. Should not be a problem in hoping that. Because only Prime Minister Narendra Modi can do all these things. But for that we must come out of mindset of this potato, onion and pulses," the report quoted him as saying.

In a statement released today, FO spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said that political figures from the BJP-RSS combine were habitual of dragging Pakistan into India’s domestic politics "in a bid to divert public attention from major issues and to stoke hyper-nationalism in order to make electoral gains".

"They would be well-advised to desist from indulging in absurd fantasies and to actually take cognisance of the grave situation on ground in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK)," he said.

He said that despite decades of unabated Indian oppression and the illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, Kashmiris’ resolve to resist Indian occupation had only strengthened with the passage of time.

"BJP ministers would do well to remind themselves that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognised dispute on the agenda of the UN Security Council whose numerous resolutions stipulate that the final disposition of the state of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations," he said in the statement.

"Rather than entertaining any notions of aggrandisement, India should vacate its illegal occupation of IIOJK and be prepared for accountability for the brutalisation of the innocent Kashmiris by its occupation forces in IIOJK," he said.

The FO spokesperson added that Pakistan would continue to extend all possible support to the Kashmiri people in their just struggle to realise the legitimate right to self-determination.