India on Thursday rejected a joint statement by China and Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir during Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s recent visit to Beijing. The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement released on Thursday, noted the joint declaration “unwarranted references to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir”. “We categorically reject such references. Our position on the issue is consistent and well-known to the concerned parties,” MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
The ministry further reiterated that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh have been, are and will always remain integral and inalienable parts of India. “No other country has the locus standing to comment on the same,” Randhir Jaiswal said in the statement.