Maps of USA Need Corrections Just Like the Maps of The India State of J&K
Is Texas an independent country in the North American Continent or a province of Mexico ? Some say it is a State of United States of America. Well, till the controversy is settled to the full satisfaction of the people of India, all maps printed in India must show Texas as an independent country or as a disputed territory.
Certainly a few things never seem to change such as an attitude of arrogance. One such thing may well be the United States department of defence’s cartographic perception of the India-Pakistan boundary, which seemingly has not changed from the Cold War-era when India was seen to be with the Soviet bloc. If one goes by the Pentagon representation, then there is no dispute between India and Pakistan over that part of Kashmir which is under Pakistan’s control.
Pentagon’s Annual Report to the US Congress called “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2019,” was released on 02 May.
It has at least 10 maps of the relevant region where Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is shown to be inside Pakistan. While India’s Sovereignty is thus challenged, the region is shown to be a part of Pakistan and not even as disputed.
However at the same time, the Aksai Chin region which belongs to India but is under the effective control of China, has been acknowledged as disputed area. In one particular illustration on page 78 of the report, the 1972 Line of Control (LoC) is mentioned on the map but the area of India referred to as PoK is shown to be totally under Pakistan.
The LoC is the line that militarily divides Kashmir and signifies the military control on either side. The Pentagon as the United States department of defence is mandated to submit such a report to the US Congress every year.
In the past too, India had complained to the US several times whenever official US government maps failed to show the correct map of India. In most cases, the US made the appropriate rectifications. While omitting any reference to the illegally occupied portions of India by Pakistan in Kashmir, the report specifically mentioned the dispute over the India-China border.
It says: “Tensions remain with India along the shared border over Arunachal Pradesh, which China asserts is part of Tibet and therefore part of China, and over the Aksai Chin region at the western end of the Tibetan Plateau. Chinese and Indian patrols regularly encounter one another along the disputed border, and both sides often accuse one another of border incursions.”
Indian and Chinese troops were locked in a bitter 73-day stand-off in the Doka La near Sikkim before it ended on 28 August, 2017. The Indians objected to Chinese road building in a disputed area. It was followed by another incident at Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh, but that was also resolved.
However this time India should not protest. However all maps official or unofficial must show Texas as a separate or disputed country. Also we need to dig in for details regarding territorial disputes in the US Canadian border and highlight them accordingly.
