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NSA Ajit Doval walks out of SCO meet as Pakistan projects ‘fictitious map’ showing J&K as Pak territory

The Indian side issued a strong objection to the use of the map by Pakistan and the Russian hosts too tried to persuade the Pakistani representative not to use it.

NSA Ajit Doval walks out of SCO meet as Pakistan projects fictitious map showing J&K as Pak territory-dnm
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New Delhi, First Published Sep 16, 2020, 9:31 AM IST

New Delhi: India on Tuesday walked out of a meeting of the national security advisors of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member countries in protest after the Pakistani representative used a “fictitious” map showing Indian territories as part of Pakistan.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval Tuesday left the meeting of NSAs of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) members after Pakistan “deliberately projected a fictitious map” of the country in “blatant disregard to the advisory by the host” Russia.

“This was in blatant disregard to the advisory by the host against it and in violation of the norms of the meeting. After consultation with the host, the Indian side left the meeting in protest at that juncture,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.

The virtual meeting was chaired by Russia.

“As was to be expected, Pakistan then went on to present a misleading view of this meeting,” Srivastava said responding to a query on the issue.

“As was to be expected, Pakistan then went on to present a misleading view of this meeting,” the MEA said. Pakistan’s ruling party PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf) has claimed that the SCO agreed to its position with respect to the new political map of the country and overruled objections by Doval before he left the meeting in protest.

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They said the Indian side issued its strong objection to the use of the illegal map by Pakistan and even the Russian side tried very hard to persuade the Pakistani representative not to use it.

Pakistan was represented at the meet by Moeed W Yusuf, Special Assistant to the prime minister on national security.

Nikolai Patrushev, the Secretary of the National Security Council of Russia, conveyed that he was personally very grateful to Indian NSA Ajit Doval for attending the meet, the sources said.

They said Russia does not support what Pakistan has done and hopes that Pakistan’s “provocative” act will not affect India’s participation in SCO and not cast any shadow on Patrushev’s warm personal relationship with the Indian NSA for whom he said he has the “highest regard”.

The new political map of Pakistan was unveiled by Prime Minister Imran Khan on the eve of the first anniversary of the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370.

Both India and Pakistan are members of the SCO, an influential regional grouping.

The SCO, seen as a counterweight to NATO, has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations which accounts for almost 44% of the world population stretching from the Arctic Ocean to the Indian Ocean and from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea.

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