India on Tuesday staged a walkout from the meeting of the National Security Advisers (NSAs) of member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), hosted by SCO Chair Russia, after Pakistan put a map on display in the background behind Pakistani representative Dr Moeed Yusuf.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Anurag Srivastava said, “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.”
The SCO online meeting was attended by India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Upon seeing the map behind Pakistan’s representative Dr Moeed Yusuf, Doval immediately raised objections to its display as part of Pakistani map display issue. When the Pakistani side refused to remove the map, he walked out after lodging a strong protest with the host.
Indian government sources said Pakistan was in blatant violation of SCO norms.
“Pakistan’s use of a fictitious map as a backdrop for its representative depicting sovereign Indian territories as part of Pakistan is a blatant violation of the SCO Charter and against all its established norms of safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of SCO member states,” an Indian government source said.
Meanwhile, according to reports, Pakistan responded to India’s objection by saying it was internationally recognised as a disputed territory. It reportedly rejected New Delhi’s assertions that Pakistan’s newly released map includes parts of the Indian territory.
Sources say India issued its strong objection to the use of this map by Pakistan.