India on Thursday reminded China that the creation of the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh were “entirely an internal affair”.
An official of the Ministry of External Affairs responded to China’s latest critical comments and argued that Beijing was in illegal possession of parts of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir . “We do not expect other countries, including China, to comment on the matters which are internal to India, just as India refrains from commenting on the internal issues of other countries. The Union of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are integral parts of India. We expect other countries to respect India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said Raveesh Kumar, official spokesperson of the Ministry.
His comments came after Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson described Thursday’s reorganisation of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh as “void”. The Chinese spokesperson highlighted that the Ladakh region contained Chinese territories and urged India to respect Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Mr. Kumar asserted that it is China that is in possession of Indian territories and said, “China continues to be in ocupation of a large tract of area in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh . It has also illegally acquired Indian territories from Pakistan-occipied Kashmir (PoK) under the so-called China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of 1963”.
The war of words comes even as India hosted President Xi Jinping at the Mamallapuram informal summit during October 11-12 where both sides agreed to boost bilateral trade. In response to China saying that the Indian action affects its territorial integrity, Mr Kumar reminded that the “boundary question” between India and China was discussed during the Mamallapuram informal summit where both sides reiterated to “seek a fair, reasonable and mutually accepted solution to the issue through peaceful consultations on the basis of the political parameters and guiding principles that were agreed in 2005”.
