‘Maps have been there for 70 years’
Elaborating on his comments from over two weeks ago that one day India expects to have physical jurisdiction over Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar reiterated India’s claim over the region. “The point I was making was a very simple one. My sovereignty and my jurisdiction is laid out by my maps. My maps have been there for over 70 years. Now, that’s my claim,” Mr. Jaishankar said to a group at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank in Washington DC. “And naturally if I have a claim, as you would have a claim, as anybody would have a claim, you would hope one day that if there are territories in your claim over which you don’t have physical jurisdiction, one day you will. It’s as simple as that.” India has claimed all of PoK since the Instrument of Accession (through which the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India) was signed in 1947. Since India revoked Article 370 (special status for Jammu and Kashmir) in early August, government ministers have raised the stakes around the Kashmir discussion, including PoK.
