ISLAMABAD : Pakistan said on Tuesday that it played no role in the rejection of nominations of pro-independence candidates for elections in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as the region's elections were determined by its own constitution.

But the Pakistan-based Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (Amanullah Khan), whose candidates were rejected by the PoK Election Commission for their refusal to sign a declaration affirming the State's accession to Pakistan, described the region's constitution as a "rubber-stamp document" that had been presented as a fait accompli to the Kashmiris by the Pakistan Government.

Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said Kashmiri leaders who drafted the region's constitution had included the requirement for candidates to sign the accession declaration at the time of nomination.

"Azad Jammu and Kashmir elections are governed by the constitution of AJK. The elections are not controlled by Pakistan. If there's a column on accession [in the nomination papers], it is in the AJK constitution, not in the Pakistan Constitution. The AJK constitution has been drafted by their own leaders," Ms. Aslam said.

Sardar Saghir Khan, general secretary of the Pakistan-based JKLF, said this was a "misrepresentation." The constitution had been vetted by the Pakistan Government and presented to the "so-called leaders and so-called elected representatives of Kashmir for their rubber-stamp", he contended.

Mr. Khan said the preamble to the Constitution mentioned that the document was `approved" by the government of Pakistan, which had "authorised" the government of Azad Kashmir to introduce it to the legislature for its approval.

The elections are to be held on July 11. Nominations of 30 out of 31 candidates of the pro-independence JKLF were rejected after they refused to sign a declaration of Kashmir's accession to Pakistan. The JKLF said it was trying to establish if the one candidate whose nomination had passed scrutiny had signed the declaration.

The PoK Election Commission also rejected 30 nominations of the All Party National Alliance, a coalition of other pro-independence parties of Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

"We are going to observe election day as a black day," said APNA chairman Sardar Muhammed Sabir Kashmiri.

The rejection of nominations of pro-independence candidates is a routine in every PoK election. Each time, the JKLF and other pro-independence parties use the opportunity to reiterate their commitment to the "third" option of independence.

The Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday that the rejection showed the people in the region "did not have the freedom to vote for political parties and candidates of their choice".

"It also exposes the insincerity of Pakistan's proclaimed policy that the future of Jammu and Kashmir should be decided by its people. This disqualification is particularly glaring in the light of the proposal made by President Musharraf of introducing self-governance in Jammu and Kashmir," the MEA spokesman said.

Both JKLF and APNA said they welcomed the Indian interest as "India is a party to the dispute," but said both India and Pakistan were "bullying Kashmiris" and "not allowing us to decide our fate."

The alliance also observed a token hunger strike on Tuesday in protest against the alleged detention by Pakistani authorities of one of their leaders, Sardar Rauf Kahsmiri.

APNA office-bearers said they had not been able to contact Mr. Kashmiri, who heads his own faction of the JKLF, since his "arrest" immediately on arrival in Pakistan on May 17 after a 15-year-imprisonment in India.

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