Ajit Doval, the team left the Shanghai Cooperation Organization for a map manipulated by Pak (Archive)
New Delhi:
National security adviser Ajit Doval and the Indian team left a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization hosted by Russia after Pakistan used a rigged map as a background for its proxy. The map showed the Indian territories as part of Pakistan. The move by the Indian side was a protest against Pakistan’s flagrant violation of the rules, the Foreign Ministry said today.
When asked about the issue, ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said in a statement: “The Pakistani NSA deliberately projected a fictitious map that Pakistan has been spreading recently. This was in blatant disregard of the host’s (Russia) warning on against him and in violation of the rules of the meeting. “
After consulting with the host, the Indian side walked out of the meeting in protest at this juncture, the statement added.
“As expected, Pakistan went on to present a misleading view of this meeting,” the statement read.
The map, released by Prime Minister Imran Khan on August 4, claims Indian territories – Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Sir Creek in Gujarat – as parts of Pakistan. India has branded it an “exercise of political absurdity” without legal validity.
Government sources said Islamabad’s use of the fictitious map, which depicts sovereign Indian territories as part of Pakistan, is a flagrant violation of the SCO Charter. It also goes against all of its established norms of safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the SCO member states.
India, sources said, has issued a strong objection to Pakistan’s use of this illegal map.
The Russian side, in its capacity as president, had gone to great lengths to persuade Pakistan not to do so. Russia does not support what Pakistan has done and hopes that Pakistan’s act of provocation will not affect India’s participation in the SCO, the sources said.
Over the past year, Pakistan has tried to highlight Kashmir in most international forums. But displaying such a map in violation of protocol was possible since the meeting was virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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