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Pakistan says new Indian maps ‘incorrect’

November 3, 2019

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–FO says political maps go against UNSC resolutions, ‘legally untenable’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) on Sunday rejected political maps recently issued by the Indian government, dubbing them “incorrect, legally untenable, void and in complete violation of the relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.

“The political maps of India, issued by the Indian Home Ministry on November 2, displaying Jammu and Kashmir region and seeking to depict parts of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir within the territorial jurisdiction of India, are incorrect, legally untenable, void and in complete violation of the relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions,” read the statement.

“Pakistan rejects these political maps, which are incompatible with the United Nations’ maps,” the statement added.

The statement further said that “no step by India can change the ‘disputed’ status of Jammu and Kashmir recognised by the United Nations.”

The FO also added that the neighbouring country’s incorrect maps would not succeed in undermining Kashmiris’ struggle for their rights. “Such measures by the Government of India cannot prejudice the inalienable right to self-determination of the people of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” the statement added.

It concluded with an assertion of Pakistan’s continued support for the “legitimate struggle of the people of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir for exercising their right to self-determination in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions.”

Last week, India officially split the former state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, a move that gives the government in New Delhi greater control over the disputed Muslim-majority region.

From Thursday, most of Jammu and Kashmir — including a section of the disputed Kashmir Valley controlled by India — was stripped of its statehood and turned into one union territory.

The remote mountainous region of Ladakh, previously a part of the state, was separated and turned into another standalone territory, the Indian Home Ministry announced.

The unprecedented move comes nearly three months after the government launched a security crackdown in Indian-occupied Kashmir, suspending all communications initially, and placing heavy restrictions on movement and public gatherings.

As tens of thousands of Indian troops moved into the Kashmir Valley — already one of the most militarized regions in the world — the Indian government scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s decades-old special status on August 5, effectively stripping the state of its autonomy.