India criticises China and Pakistan for ‘unwarranted Jammu and Kashmir references’

NEW DELHI: With Pakistan and China again raising the Kashmir issue in a joint statement, India Thursday rejected the “unwarranted references” with the government reminding the two countries that Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are and always will be integral and inalienable parts of India.

While the joint statement issued after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting with Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif had mentioned the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and their efforts to extend it into third countries, India “resolutely” rejected any attempts to utilise such projects to change the status quo in areas illegally occupied by Pakistan.

On the “so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor”, which passes through POK, the official recalled India has conveyed its protest and concerns to China and Pakistan. “CPEC includes projects on the sovereign territory of India under forcible and illegal external occupation,” said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.