Cartographic challenge: On Pakistan’s new map (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: International 
Prelims level:Sir creek line
Mains level:  India and its neighborhood- relations

Context:

• The Ministry of External Affairs has termed Pakistan’s announcement of a new political map, as an exercise in “political absurdity.”
• The new map asserts its claims on Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek, and lays a new claim to Junagadh.
• MEA accused Pakistan of attempting a form of “territorial aggrandisementsupported by cross-border terrorism”. 

Tit for tat:

• Pakistan’s decision to issue the map was a tit-for-tat manoeuvrein return for India’s decision to reorganise Jammu and Kashmir a year ago. 
• It appears to reset several agreements with India that have been concretisedover the past 70 years. 
• The map the Imran Khan government unveiled lays claim to all of Jammu and Kashmir, thus far shown as disputed territory and renames J&K as “Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir”. 
• The new map leaves the claim line with Ladakh unclear. While each of these acts is outrageousfor New Delhi, it should also be questioned in Islamabad. 
• Pakistan’s claim to all of J&K, but not Ladakh, goes against its own commitment to adjudicatethe future of all six parts of the erstwhileroyal state of J-K (Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, PoK and Aksai Chin) with India. 

Audacious claims:

• The claims to Siachen and Sir Creek, that have been the subject of several discussions between India and Pakistan, are also a regressivestep. 
• While both sides had reached an impasseon Siachen, the Sir Creek agreement had made considerable progress, and was reportedly even resolved, pending a political announcement in 2007. 
• Either way, both were without doubt disputed areas, and Pakistan’s unilateral claim over them is not helpful or conducive to future resolution. 
• Finally, the move on Junagadh, a former princely state whose accession to India was accepted by Pakistan, opens up a whole new dispute. 
• While Junagadh was in contention at the time of Partition, the issue was successfully resolved after a referendum was conducted there in February 1948, in which an overwhelming 95% of the state’s residents voted to stay with India.

Conjunction:

• As New Delhi considers its next moves on this provocation, it should be prepared for Pakistan taking all the issues it has raised with its new map to the international stage. 
• Pakistan’s actions, while on completely bilateral matters, come in conjunctionwith map-related issues India faces today on two other fronts.
• One with China at the Line of Actual Control on Ladakh, and another with Nepal at Kalapani and Limpiyadhura (which Nepal’s government has also issued a new map about). 
• It is surely no coincidence that all three countries objected to the map New Delhi had issued in November 2019, albeitfor different reasons. 

Conclusion:

• Pakistan’s new map is intended to provokeIndia, and internationalise the border disputes
• New Delhi must be well-prepared to deal with the three-pronged challenge it will face in the coming months.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

E-Books Download for UPSC IAS Exams

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Material

Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the Metamaterials, consider the following statements:
1. Metamaterials are artificially crafted materials with unique internal microstructures that give them properties not found in nature. 
2. Researchers in the IIT-Madras and the University of Nairobi have used metamaterials to improve detection of defects in large structures by guided wave ultrasound. 
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: C

Mains Questions:
Q.1)Recent a new political map is unveiled by Pakistan showing all of Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Sir Creek and Junagadh portions on their side. In this context, what are its implication and how India well-prepared to deal such cartographic challenges?