Islamabad/New Delhi, Sep 11 - Pakistan Friday rejected the Indian protest over the Gilgit-Baltistan empowerment and self-governance order, saying New Delhi had no locus standi in the matter.

The rejection came on the day two protest notes were handed over to the Pakistani high commission in New Delhi by the Indian external affairs ministry on Gilgit-Baltistan and the construction of the 7,000 MW Bunji Dam in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Online news agency reported.

India's deputy high commissioner in Islamabad was called to the Foreign Office by the director general (South Asia) and told Islamabad rejects New Delhi's interference on Gilgit-Baltistan, as also the Indian claim that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India.

In New Delhi, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash told reporters: 'The government of India lodged a protest against the construction of (the) project located in a part of Jammu and Kashmir under the illegal occupation of Pakistan.'

The ministry lodged the protest with Pakistan's deputy high commissioner Riffat Masood here, officials said. India's high commission in Islamabad will also lodge a formal protest with Pakistan's Foreign Office soon.

Pakistan and China signed a memorandum of understanding in August for the construction of a dam at Bunji in Astore district in Gilgit-Baltistan, earlier known as the Northern Areas, during President Asif Ali Zardari's Beijing visit.