Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today flayed the PDP for its controversial map of the state, saying 'gifting away' of state's territory will be not be acceptable. The map displayed by PDP during a power point presentation yesterday showed Aksai Chin painted in red and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) in green.
The depiction of the map is seen as an acceptance of the occupation of these areas by the respective countries.
Omar said, "It is up to the PDP how they would want to clear this (map). I don not think it is acceptable to anyone that part of state's territory is gifted away like this". The Chief Minister, however, said that he was in favour of making the borders irrelevant that would ensure free trade and travel between the sides of divided state.
Meanwhile, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti said her party has not done anything to challenge the sovereignty of the country over the territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
"We have only shown the distance say from Kashmir-Leh to Yarkand, which is in China. These routes were open before 1947. We have not done anything (to change the map)," she added. The PDP president said the power-point presentation only highlighted the distance between Srinagar and other major trade centres in Central Asia and China before 1947.
Chief spokesman of the party Nayeem Akhtar said the map in question does not mean anything politically. "We want erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, as it existed before the partition of subcontinent, should be made a free economic zone," Akhtar said.
He said the traditional routes connecting Jammu and Kashmir Central Asia and China, which became a casualty of 'partition tragedy', should be opened as closure of these has led to the feeling of a siege in the state.