Political India: Engaging America

A State Department Spokesperson clarified that the map of India on the Department’s website, which showed Pakistan Occupied Kashmir as part of the territory of Pakistan, “did contain some inaccuracies which were associated with the boundaries of some geographic features [and] this was unintentional.”

The Spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, responded to a question from The Hindu saying the map had been taken off the website and “We are going to get the map fixed and put up a fixed map.”

Admitting that the map on the site earlier “was not drawn properly,” Ms. Nuland added, “We will put up the new map when we acquire one that we are confident is accurate.” However she declined to provide any further details on which officer or department within the State Department was responsible for the map.

The controversy was stoked when the Indian Ministry of External Affairs put out a statement saying, “The Government is aware of the gross inaccuracies, in the map of India, on the U.S. State Department website. The Government has consistently rejected incorrect depiction of India's borders on maps used by the U.S. Government. It has used every opportunity to convey to the U.S. side its concern in this regard, and has asked that these maps be corrected.”

The MEA statement also noted that the government’s dim view on the matter had been “reiterated by a senior MEA official to the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission today, who assured us that the U.S. Embassy would convey our concerns to the U.S. State Department.”

The MEA went further to clarify its view on the territory in question saying, “The Government takes this opportunity to reaffirm that the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and has consistently conveyed to the international community that maps of India should depict the boundaries of our country correctly.”

Labels: boundaries, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, India, U.S., U.S. State Department