India on Tuesday walked out of a meeting of the national security advisors of the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in protest after the Pakistani representative used a “fictitious” map showing Indian territories as part of Pakistan. The meeting, which was chaired by Russia, saw National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval walk out.
“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,” said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava.
“As was to be expected, Pakistan then went on to present a misleading view of this meeting,” said Srivastava, responding to a query on the issue.
Government sources said the Pakistani action was “blatant violation” of the SCO charter and against all its established norms of safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of SCO member states.
The sources added that India issued its strong objection and the Russian side tried very hard to persuade Pakistan not to use the map.
Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the National Security Council of Russian Federation, said Moscow does not support what Pakistan has done and hopes that the “provocative act” will not affect India’s participation in the SCO.
On the eve of the anniversary of abrogation of Article 370, Pakistan last month had issued a new map showing all of Kashmir as part of its territory. The map also includes not just parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh but also Junagarh in Gujarat.
India has dismissed the new map as “an exercise in political absurdity” and has accused Pakistan of laying untenable claims to territories in Gujarat and the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and of Ladakh.
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