Doval, team storm out of Moscow meet as Pak presents 'fictitious' map

An Indian delegation led by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval walked out of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meet hosted by Russia on Tuesday (September 15) in protest, after Pakistan displayed a fictitious map, showing Indian regions as part of its territory, as a background for its representative.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, “The Pakistani NSA deliberately projected a fictitious map that Pakistan has been recently propagating. This was in blatant disregard to the advisory by the host against it and in violation of the norms of the meeting.”

According to reports, the map issued by the Pakistani government as recently as August 4, claims Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Sir Creek in Gujarat as parts of its territory.

While India has rejected the claim by terming it as an “exercise in political absurdity” which had no legal grounds, it has accused Pakistan of flouting the SCO Charter through such claims.

Doval and team, reportedly left the meeting after consulting with the host over the matter.

According to NDTV, the host country tried to persuade Pakistan to refrain from any such action and has said that it doesn’t support it.