India rejects Pakistan-China boundary commission, says J&K and Ladakh 'integral and inalienable'
India on Wednesday rejected the Pakistan-China Boundary Joint Commission, saying the body has no legal basis to decide on arrangements relating to Indian territory that New Delhi regards as being under illegal occupation.
The response came after the commission held its first meeting in Islamabad. "Our position on this matter is clear and consistent. There is no boundary between Pakistan and China. We reject the so-called Joint Commission, which is without any legal basis," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in reply to media queries.
Mr. Jaiswal said the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh "have been, are and will always remain integral and inalienable parts of India".
India has never recognised the China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of 1963, under which Pakistan transferred the Shaksgam Valley — a tract of about 5,180 square kilometres in the Karakoram region — to China. New Delhi's position, stated repeatedly since then, is that Pakistan could not lawfully cede territory that was not lawfully its to give away, and that the agreement is therefore illegal and invalid.
"We have never recognised the so-called 'China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement' of 1963 and have consistently maintained that it is illegal and invalid," Mr. Jaiswal said.
He added: "We resolutely oppose and reject any attempts to alter the status of these occupied territories or legitimise illegal occupation, impinging on India's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
The spokesperson also said any boundary cooperation between China and Pakistan concerning Indian territories "would be completely unacceptable and would have no bearing whatsoever on India's sovereignty over these territories".
The joint commission was set up by Pakistan and China to coordinate on boundary-related matters between them. India's objection is that the body concerns territory over which Pakistan has no lawful authority.
India's objection to such arrangements is not new. New Delhi has for years opposed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship infrastructure and connectivity project under China's Belt and Road Initiative, because a stretch of it runs through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. India has maintained that such projects cannot create or alter legal rights over territory that belongs to it.
Pakistan and China have described their boundary arrangements as a bilateral matter and have continued to hold discussions on managing the frontier, including in the region they call Gilgit-Baltistan. India does not accept the framework within which those discussions take place.
"Instead of engaging in such theatrics, we call on Pakistan to immediately vacate areas under its illegal and forcible occupation," Mr. Jaiswal said.
New Delhi has raised the 1963 agreement and the status of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in bilateral and multilateral settings, including in its responses to connectivity proposals that pass through these areas. Officials have said India's position rests on the historical and legal record and remains unchanged.
The exchange underlines how the territorial dispute remains a standing obstacle in India's relations with both countries. India and China are separately engaged in a long-running process to address their own boundary question along the Line of Actual Control, while India's ties with Pakistan have remained largely frozen. New Delhi has said it will continue to raise the status of the occupied territories at every appropriate forum, and that no arrangement between third countries can affect its sovereignty over them.
