Correct the Map: India Draws the Line on Jammu & Kashmir

NewsBharati 07-Sep-2026 17:28:59 PM

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New Delhi , Sept 07: India’s support for the United Nations General Assembly’s “Correct the Map” resolution has triggered a fresh diplomatic exchange with Pakistan over the depiction of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on any future world map.

The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution on September 4, with 164 countries voting in favour. The initiative seeks wider use of equal-area map projections that represent the relative size of landmasses more accurately and address distortions associated with the traditional Mercator projection. India supported the resolution but made it clear that its vote did not amount to endorsement of any particular map or projection.

New Delhi subsequently issued a pointed clarification. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said any map prepared in connection with the UN initiative must accurately depict India’s sovereign territory, including the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, according to India’s official map. Any inaccurate or misleading representation, he said, would be unacceptable. India’s position on sovereignty and territorial integrity, he stressed, was “clear, consistent and non-negotiable.”

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Pakistan rejected India’s interpretation, describing New Delhi’s clarification as baseless. Islamabad argued that the UN resolution was about cartographic representation and did not endorse any country’s particular territorial claims or boundaries.

The dispute therefore goes beyond cartography. For India, the map is also a statement of sovereignty. New Delhi is insisting that an international effort to correct geographical distortions cannot simultaneously reproduce what it regards as an inaccurate depiction of its territory.

United Nations UN General Assembly External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal India