BackNew Delhi warns Beijing against comments on J&K’s bifurcation
India also slams China for holding ‘illegally acquired’ Indian territory after latter objects to J&K’s divisionChina said India has included Chinese territory within its own jurisdiction
PremiumNew Delhi on Thursday warned Beijing not to comment on its internal matters just as India refrained from making statements on the internal affairs of China.
India also slammed China for holding “illegally acquired" Indian territory.
New Delhi’s warning came after Beijing on Thursday objected to the reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories, saying India’s decision to “include" what it called Chinese territory into its administrative jurisdiction “challenged" Beijing’s sovereignty.
The reorganization of the state into the two Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh came into effect on Thursday.
In Beijing, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said “China deplores and firmly opposes" the reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir. “This is unlawful and void and this is not effective in any way and will not change the fact that the area is under Chinese actual control," Geng said, urging India to “earnestly respect Chinese territorial sovereignty" and “uphold peace and tranquillity in the border areas".
Foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar in his response in New Delhi said that it was not for other countries to comment on India’s internal matters.
“We do not expect other countries, including China, to comment on matters that are internal to India, just as India refrains from commenting on internal issues of other countries," Kumar said.
India expects “other countries to respect India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity", he said.
China, Kumar said, was holding “illegally acquired Indian territories from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) under the so-called China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of 1963".
On the unsettled India-China boundary issue, Kumar said both countries “agreed to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually accepted solution to the issue through peaceful consultations".
“This was reiterated also in the 2nd India-China Informal Summit between Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and (Chinese) President Xi (Jinping) in Chennai earlier this month. In the interim, the two sides have also agreed to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border area," he said.
It is the mandate of his ministry to engage with a range of opinions across the political spectrum in other countries, Kumar said in response to questions about the visit of two dozen members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to Kashmir just ahead of the reorganization. “We will definitely look at such requests (of other international delegations visiting Kashmir). It should, however, be kept in mind that what will be the deciding factor will depend on the intent, the content and also the ground situation (in Kashmir)," he said.
Putting across India’s point of view was not internationalizing the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan, he said. Kumar said the MEPs’ meetings in India were facilitated by the external affairs ministry “to promote our foreign policy and also in the national interest".
A number of those who visited Kashmir on Tuesday and Wednesday backed the Indian government’s position on terrorism emanating from Pakistan, he said. “We feel that such exchanges promote people-to-people contact and ultimately feeds into the larger relationship" that countries would like to develop, Kumar said. Visits like these were organized not only by the government but also at the instance of think tanks and other fora, he said. The important question was whether sharing of perspectives on such occasions served India’s interests, he said.
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