- Pakistan approached the US after a map showed PoK and Aksai Chin as Indian territory
- US deleted the map after Pakistan raised objections with American officials
- Pakistan claims the official UN map shows Kashmir as disputed requiring a plebiscite
Pakistan has said that it approached Washington after the US posted a map that aligns with India's official map, showing the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Aksai Chin, as Indian territory—a move that deeply embarrassed Islamabad. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry claimed the post was deleted after Islamabad raised objections with US officials.
Parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are illegally claimed by Pakistan and China.
"This map was put up at certain handles. We contacted the US authorities, and they realised that this map was illegal... As a result, the international map delineating Pakistan and Indian territories is legally sanctified by the United Nations," Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said in a media briefing.
Islamabad, left red-faced by Washington's action, claimed it was satisfied that "the US side made the requisite correction to highlight the legal UN-sanctioned map of our region, which clearly delineates Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory whose settlement is to be done through a UN-administered plebiscite in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions."
The Map Row
The map posted by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on February 7 had caught attention, as it was a clear departure from the historical American practice of marking PoK and Aksai Chin as disputed areas. The graphic was part of the announcement on the bilateral interim framework agreement on trade, soon after New Delhi and Washington announced they had agreed on the terms of the deal.
In the past, maps of India circulated by US authorities had carried demarcations indicating PoK and Aksai Chin as disputed areas. In contrast, the now-deleted version posted by the USTR depicted the whole region as an integral part of India.
However, India has consistently maintained that the entire Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh "has been, is, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India." " New Delhi also maintains that Aksai Chin is an integral part of Indian territory.
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