Sandeep Dixit
New Delhi, September 15
Pakistan is irked after a UAE minister shared a video clip on the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor depicting a map showing the entire Union Territory of J&K as part of India. The map includes Gilgit-Baltistan under the administrative control of Islamabad and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
On the other hand, in a brief note about the corridor, US President Joe Biden said that pipelines in the Mediterranean will also be included in the project, while the US State Department hailed the third anniversary of the Abraham Accords that made the initiative possible.
„Any map showing the entire J&K as part of India is legally unacceptable and factually incorrect. We hope our international partners will pay due attention to these facts,” said Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, UAE Minister for the Ruling Clan and Deputy Prime Minister Saif Bin. Said when asked about the published map from Saeed Al Nahyan.
The erstwhile princely state of J&K is an internationally recognized disputed territory whose final decision should be made in accordance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people, Baloch said. „It is also an established fact that Azad J&K and Gilgit Baltistan as shown on the Indian map are under the control of Pakistan,” he added.
Regarding the annexation plan, which excludes Pakistan, the spokesperson said it is in the conception stage. „Therefore, we will be in a position to comment once the project is finalised. We believe that decisions on different merger projects should be taken on a case-by-case basis, taking into account several factors, including the impact on other countries,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the US State Department on Friday hailed the third anniversary of the signing of the historic Abraham Accords. This led to normalization between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco and also triggered subsequent partnerships such as the Negev Forum and the I2U2 partnership (India, Israel, UAE and the US). I2U2, in turn, has promoted the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, which seeks to „strengthen shared capabilities and foster the necessary cooperation to meet today’s pressing challenges and opportunities”.