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🇮🇳 India /Elections & Politics

India Says UN-Backed World Map Must Accurately Show Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh

From Hindustan Times · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Approved/passed
  • India voted for a UN General Assembly resolution promoting maps that better represent the relative size of continents, especially Africa.
  • New Delhi said the resolution does not endorse any particular map or settle political boundaries, and demanded accurate depictions of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
  • The resolution passed 164-1, with the United States voting against and six countries abstaining.

India backed the United Nations resolution promoting a more accurate representation of the relative size of continents, but immediately qualified its support over the depiction of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India had voted for the resolution and explained that it supported the principle of equal-area cartographic representation. He stressed, however, that the measure did not endorse any specific map, projection or depiction of national boundaries.

Jaiswal said India’s sovereign territory, including the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, “must be depicted in accordance with India’s official map”. He added: “Any inaccurate or misleading depiction is unacceptable. Our position on India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is clear, consistent and non-negotiable.”

must be depicted in accordance with India’s official map

· Randhir JaiswalIndia’s external affairs ministry spokesperson stated New Delhi’s condition for depicting its sovereign territory.

The resolution, titled “Correct the map: Rebalancing global cartographic representation and promoting equitable representation of the world’s regions, particularly Africa”, was adopted by 164 votes to one, with six abstentions. The United Nations presented it as an effort to correct distortions in commonly used maps, particularly the Mercator projection, which it said can misrepresent the relative size of continents and diminish perceptions of Africa.

The measure favors the Equal Earth projection, created in 2018 by cartographers Bojan Savric, Bernhard Jenny and Tom Patterson. India objected that the projection inaccurately shows parts of Jammu and Kashmir within the borders of China and Pakistan. Jaiswal said the resolution concerns equal-area projections and does not address international boundaries, disputed territories or place names. India’s position, he said, remains unchanged.

Any inaccurate or misleading depiction is unacceptable. Our position on India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is clear, consistent and non-negotiable.

· Randhir JaiswalJaiswal rejected map depictions that India considers inconsistent with its territorial claims.
About this summary

Originally published by Hindustan Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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