India blames Chinese maps for highlighting Kashmir dispute

• Source: Global Times
• [09:12 October 21 2009]
• Comments

By Hao Zhou

An Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) report published online Monday by the Times of India said visitors to Tibet, namely journalists invited by the Chinese government, are given handouts where Kashmir is shown as "a country separate from India."

The media pamphlet providing "basic information" about Tibet says it "borders India, Nepal, Myanmar and the Kashmir area," according to the IANS story.

Pakistan and India now each control a part of Kashmir. While the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir also borders Tibet, the "Kashmir area" in the pamphlet refers to all of Kashmir, including the Pakistan-controlled area, which doesn't belong to India.

The IANS also said the Chinese maps show an India denuded of Kashmir, but that's not generally the case.

On maps printed this year by SinoMaps Press, China's largest official map publisher, both Pakistan- and India-controlled Kashmir areas aren't colored, a common way that Chinese map publishers distinguish disputed areas.

But it uses green to circle the India-controlled Kashmir area to signify the area is now under control of India. Green is used on the map to distinguish India. The same way is applied for Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir with light brown.

The maps also use dashes to define the border of India-controlled Kashmir and India, while graphic symbols on the left bottom of the maps explain that such dashes are used to indicate regional boundaries, not national ones.

A broken line is applied to indicate the military demarcation line between Pakistani-and Indian-controlled Kashmir on the maps.

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