Agencies | New Delhi:
India on Tuesday rejected the China-Pakistan Joint Boundary Commission, which became operational this week, asserting that Pakistan has no legal basis to enter into territorial arrangements concerning areas that India claims as part of its sovereign territory.
“Our position on this matter is clear and consistent. There is no boundary between Pakistan and China. We reject the so-called Joint Commission, which is without any legal basis,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
Jaiswal reiterated New Delhi’s position that the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are integral and inalienable parts of India. He also said India has never recognised the so-called China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of 1963, maintaining that it is “illegal and invalid.”
The dispute is linked to territory in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, including the Shaksgam Valley, which India says was under Pakistan’s illegal occupation when Islamabad entered into the 1963 agreement with China.
According to India’s longstanding position, Pakistan had no authority to enter into a territorial arrangement with China concerning land claimed by India. The 1963 agreement provided for the demarcation of the China-Pakistan boundary in areas then under Pakistan’s control, but New Delhi has consistently rejected the arrangement.
In an official clarification, the Ministry of External Affairs has stated that under the 1963 agreement, Pakistan purportedly ceded 5,180 sq km of Indian territory in the Shaksgam Valley to China. India has maintained that the agreement cannot alter its sovereignty or territorial claims.
“We resolutely oppose and reject any attempts to alter the status of these occupied territories or legitimise illegal occupation, impinging on India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Jaiswal said.
He added that any boundary cooperation between China and Pakistan involving territories claimed by India would be unacceptable to New Delhi and would have no bearing on India’s sovereignty.
Jaiswal also called on Pakistan to immediately vacate the areas that India maintains are under its “illegal and forcible occupation.”
