New Delhi (NVI): Two days after the creation of Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the government on November 2 issued a new map of India, which significantly included parts of the erstwhile state which are under the illegal occupation of Pakistan and China.
The map clearly specifies with names the areas of PoK, like Muzaffarabad, Mirpur and Poonch, as part of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and included Aksai Chin, which Pakistan has illegally given to China after annexing it forcibly in 1947, as part of the Union Territory of Ladakh.
In a gazette notification issued along with the new map, the government enumerated the territories in Leh district as: “Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilas, Tribal territory and Leh and Ladakh, except the present territory of Kargil.”
The order was called the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Removal of Difficulties) Second Order, 2019.
The map of J&K UT comprises 20 districts, including Muzaffarabad, Mirpur and the area of Poonch which are part of PoK.
The two UTs came into being on October 31 when the state of Jammu and Kashmir ceased to exist.
The state was divided as per the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019 passed by Parliament on August 6. Simultaneously, its special status granted under Article 370 was also abolished.
On October 31, G C Murmu, an IAS officer handpicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took charge as the first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir UT.
Retired IAS R.K. Mathur, who was former Chief Information Commissioner, was sworn in as the first Lt Gov of the Union Territory of Ladakh.
