India’s hue and cry exposes UN’s re-endorsement of Kashmir as dispute: Analysts
Srinagar: Political analysts have said India’s hue and cry over a recent United Nations General Assembly resolution on world maps reflects its growing apprehension that the UN continues to treat Jammu and Kashmir, including Ladakh, as a disputed territory.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the UN General Assembly on September 4 adopted the resolution on promoting more accurate and equitable world map projections by 164 votes to one, with six abstentions. The measure primarily concerns cartographic representation and does not determine sovereignty or international boundaries.
Analysts said India’s subsequent insistence that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh must be depicted according to its official map exposes New Delhi’s sensitivity over the international status of the disputed territory. India’s Foreign Ministry stated that any “inaccurate” or “misleading” depiction would be unacceptable, while falsely claiming sovereignty over the two regions.
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They observed that had India been confident that its territorial claims were universally accepted, there would have been little reason for such an emphatic reaction to a resolution that does not itself address sovereignty. The analysts said New Delhi’s reaction instead underscores the continuing gap between India’s unilateral claims and the internationally disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir.
They maintained that India cannot erase the Kashmir dispute through unilateral constitutional, administrative or cartographic measures. The people of Jammu and Kashmir have yet to exercise their internationally recognised right to self-determination, they added.
The analysts said New Delhi’s latest reaction has once again drawn international attention to the unresolved Kashmir dispute and demonstrated why India remains concerned about how Jammu and Kashmir is represented in international forums and maps.
