Political absurdity: India on Pakistan’s boundary map

“disputed territory” whose final status is to be decided in line with UN Security Council resolutions. The boundary of Himachal Pradesh is depicted as the international border.

In a nod to China’s sensitivities, the map does not depict the Ladakh region, with a legend stating “frontier undefined”. An annotation on the map states the boundary in this area will be decided by “sovereign authorities concerned after the final settlement of the Jammu & Kashmir dispute”. During the ceremony at which the map was unveiled, Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi referred to the India-china border standoff in Ladakh and said Pakistan, too, has a view on the matter.

Qureshi also said the map includes Siachen glacier as part of Pakistan to challenge the region’s “illegal occupation by India”. He further said the map depicts the boundary in the disputed Sri Creek region of Gujarat according to Pakistan’s stated position on the issue to challenge India’s claim.

Khan described the unveiling of map as a “historic” move that he said was backed by his cabinet, the Kashmiri leadership and all of Pakistan’s political parties. “The move reflects the desires of the people of Pakistan and Kashmir and rejects India’s illegal action of August 5 last year,” he said, speaking in Urdu.

The new map will be “used in schools and colleges and internationally” and the “only solution to the Kashmir issue can be found under the UN Security Council resolutions, which clearly give the right to the Kashmiri people to vote on whether to go with Pakistan or India,” Khan said.

The map also depicts the Junagadh and Manavadar region of India’s Gujarat state as part of

Pakistan. The nawab of Junagadh had opted to accede to Pakistan in September 1947, before fleeing from India with his family the following month. Junagadh voted overwhelmingly to stay with India in a plebiscite held in the region in 1948. Experts believe Pakistan has no legal ground for claiming the region.

India’s move to nullify Article 370 last year had triggered a strong reaction from Pakistan, with whom India’s ties were then at an all-time low following the standoff over the Pulwama terror attack. It was also opposed by Pakistan’s “iron brother” ally China, which believed it would affect its territorial claims in Ladakh, especially after India included Aksai Chin region in new maps of the union territories.

Pakistan plans to observe August 5 as “Youm-e-istehsal” (day of exploitation) and Khan is scheduled to go to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK), to deliver a speech. On Monday, Pakistan’s foreign and defence ministers visited areas along the Line of Control (LOC) to raise the Kashmir issue.

The Pakistani leadership has also attempted to mobilise support for its position on Kashmir from the country’s traditional allies, with only Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan assuring Khan and President Arif Alvi of his country’s backing on the issue.

On Tuesday, Khan repeated his allegation that India is “trying to settle people from outside so that Kashmiris become a minority”. He added: “The map is the first step and we will launch a political struggle. We don’t believe in military solutions, we believe in political solutions.”

Qureshi also said the Kashmir Highway in Islamabad has been named the Srinagar Highway. Solidarity walks, photo exhibitions and seminars will also be organised to protest against alleged atrocities in Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

Academic Happymon Jacob, who closely tracks India-pakistan relations, said Islamabad should “stop mouthing the wornout platitude that it supports the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination”.

“It only seeks to wrest Kashmir from India,” he said, adding that making the LOC the international boundary “is the only solution available to either side”.

How lovely it would be to meet someone whose life hasn’t been altered by the coronavirus! A life that is still going on unhindered, as always, more or less.

Well, then meet Suresh S Nair of Ambadi grocery store, in Gurugram’s Old Railway Road.

“Yes, the business is the same as before,” he confirms, speaking on phone from his grocery shop. “No, I haven’t got the infection, nor any member of my family, nor anyone among my relatives .... coronavirus hasn’t touched me.” In spite of this happy fact, Mr Nair is being as careful as a grocer can be. “I’m nearing 60... I fear it would be dangerous for me to catch the corona.” His voice betrays no fear, as when one talks of calamities that only seem to happen in the news media, not in real life. The soft-spoken man reveals that he has abandoned his habit of taking a break in the afternoon and heading home in nearby Lakshmi Vihar for lunch. “Now, I tend to stay in one place for a long time rather than exposing myself to too many places and situations.” He gets the food from home. Unlike most other businesses, neighbourhood groceries have been spared of the collateral toll of the pandemic, Mr Nair observes. The kinds of things such modest establishments sell are used for daily consumption, which are needed in good times and bad. So, “shops like ours” were allowed to function during those many weeks when the city, as well as the country, were in a shutdown mode. Mr Nair played cautious even then. “I would open the shop for limited hours only.”

But initially the little store did suffer from a hiccup, because of the nature of the business. The shop isn’t just any random grocery giving you yellow dal and brown dal. Mr Nair’s is a South Indian store specialising in food from Kerala as well as other southern states—he is himself from Pathanamthitta, the district in southern Kerala famous for the Sabarimala temple. Indeed, entering his shop is like stepping inside one of the most intimate aspects of a Kerala home, its kitchen pantry. There’s guruvayur pappadam, sacks of red rice, putt kadala lentils, garlic pickles and sachets of ginger coffee—he shows all of these on Whatsapp video. While the counter has at least one cluster of bananas hanging the city you never see