India decimates Imran Khan’s ‘untenable claims’ to Indian territories in new ‘political map’ of Pakistan
Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson, ministry of external affairs has said in a statement that “We have seen a so-called ‘political map’ of Pakistan that has been released by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
FollowNew Delhi: Snubbing Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s “political absurdity” for releasing a new map of Pakistan, India, in a strongly worded statement, has decimated it saying “this is an exercise in political absurdity, laying untenable claims to territories in the Indian State of Gujarat and our Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and of Ladakh”.
Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson, ministry of external affairs has said in a statement that “We have seen a so-called ‘political map’ of Pakistan that has been released by Prime Minister Imran Khan. This is an exercise in political absurdity, laying untenable claims to territories in the Indian State of Gujarat and our Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and of Ladakh.”
“These ridiculous assertions have neither legal validity nor international credibility. In fact, this new effort only confirms reality of Pakistan’s obsession with territorial aggrandisement supported by cross-border terrorism,” the statement further said.
It may be recalled that on the eve of the first anniversary of abrogation of the controversial Article 370 and 35A in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Imran on Tuesday (August 4) sought to step up acrimony or bitterness with India by “unveiling a new political map” of his country.
According to the Pakistani media reports, Imran, while addressing a news conference after chairing the meeting of the federal Cabinet, which approved the new map, said, “This is the most historic day in Pakistan’s history. For the first time in history, Pakistan has launched a political map which shows the whole Kashmir region including IIOJK as part of the country’s territory. Today is a historic day we have launched a new political map of Pakistan which is as per the aspirations of the entire nation as well as the people of Kashmir.” He added this new official map will henceforth be used in curriculum across the country.
It may be mentioned here that external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar (in new dispensation since May 30, 2019) had said that when the controversial Article prevailed, Jammu and Kashmir was "in a mess". “.....pre-August 5 (2019) Kashmir was in a mess. Difficulties in Kashmir did not start on August 5. It is supposed to be a way of dealing with those difficulties,” the minister had said in September last year at the interactive session with Frank G. Wisner, a former US Ambassador to India.
“We had the experience of 2016 when a self-advertised terrorist cult figure called Burhan Wani was killed and after that, there was a spike in violence. Our intention was to manage the situation (after the Article 370 decision) without the loss of life and restrictions were intended to do that,” he said.
