Pakistan’s new Kashmir map links it to China, fuelling India’s fears of war with both

[achhu]

Pakistan’s new Kashmir map links it to China, fuelling India’s fears of war with both

• On paper, the map links Pakistan with Chinese-administered territory and hints at the possibility of coordinated military operations between the two
• Little evidence exists that such a conflict is in the works, however, and analysts caution the map is driven more by domestic politics

Tom Hussain
Published: 6:15pm, 6 Aug, 2020

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, centre, unveils the country’s updated official map which for the first time includes large parts of Indian-administered Kashmir. Photo: EPA


Pakistan
’s move to unveil a new political map
reasserting its claim to all of Indian-administered
Kashmir
– minus the parts claimed by
China
– is fuelling New Delhi’s fears of
a two-front conflict with its neighbours
, despite a lack of evidence that such a move is in the works.
But the release of the map is the latest in a series of conflicts born from cartography which have broken out in the Himalayas since May – from
a deadly scuffle between Indian and Chinese soldiers in mid-June
to a war of words that began earlier in the summer when New Delhi
opened a road
through territory claimed by
Nepal
.
Pakistan’s new map – unveiled almost exactly a year to the day since India’s unilateral decision
to strip the part of Kashmir it controls of its semi-autonomy
– extends Islamabad’s territorial claim north-eastward up to the Chinese-held Karakoram Pass.
On paper, the map links Pakistan with Chinese-administered territory via the Shaksgam Valley, a part of the Gilgit-Baltistan region ceded to China by Pakistan under their 1963 border settlement. To the east is the Aksai Chin region – the limit of China’s claims in Kashmir which it has controlled since a 1962 war with India.

A map showing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Kashmir region. Image: SCMP

Between the two lies the Siachen Glacier, an undefined area at the northern extreme of the de facto border between Pakistani- and Indian-administered Kashmir known as the Line of Control – not to be confused with the Line of Actual Control, which separates Indian- and Chinese-controlled territory in the region.

India, like Pakistan, claims Kashmir in its entirety and has no interest in pursuing a United Nations-supervised plebiscite, supported by Islamabad, for the region’s residents to decide which country they should join.

The
recent incursions by China across the disputed Line of Actual Control
into Indian-administered Kashmir have given Beijing the ability to impede India’s military traffic along roads approaching the Siachen Glacier from the east.

To this extent, Pakistan’s new map does hint at the possibility of coordinated operations with China if Islamabad ever attempts to forcibly take the glacier, which would create a land bridge between Gilgit-Baltistan and Chinese-administered Aksai Chin.

Since Chinese and Indian forces clashed in the Ladakh region this summer, Indian media have speculated about China’s strategic intentions in the area, including the possibility of it seeking to seize territory – fuelling fears of a future war with both China and Pakistan.


“This certainly reinforces the Indian perception of a two-front theatre that its military planners are increasingly taking into account,” said Harsh V. Pant, a professor of international relations at King’s College London.

But as Ejaz Haider – a Lahore-based South Asian strategic affairs analyst – points out, a highway connecting
Tibet
to
Xinjiang
already exists “so the Chinese don’t need a route through the Karakoram Pass to reach Xinjiang”. That being said, if Pakistan’s new map were to become reality, it would represent a “net strategic gain” for both Islamabad and Beijing, the former Ford Scholar with the University of Illinois’ programme on arms control, disarmament and international security said.
In a rare four-way dialogue with his counterparts from Pakistan,
Afghanistan
and
Nepal
last month,
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi again pushed plans for a trans-Himalayan economic corridor
connecting Nepal to Pakistan via Tibet and Xinjiang, from where it would join the estimated US$60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) culminating at the Chinese operated port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea. Wang also called for the extension of the CPEC into Afghanistan.

This [map] is presumably meant to be a defence of the Belt and Road Initiative, which India opposes because it runs through disputed territory that it claimsMichael Kugelman, Wilson Centre

Michael Kugelman, senior South Asia associate at the Washington-based Wilson Centre think tank, said the strategic value of Pakistan’s new map, for Beijing, may lie in the additional political cover it provides to belt and road projects being built in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The new map is significant because “it recognises large areas of Indian territory as Pakistan’s”, he said. “This is presumably meant to be a defence of the
Belt and Road Initiative
, which India opposes because it runs through disputed territory that it claims.”
In June, Pakistan awarded contracts for the construction of three major hydropower projects along the Neelum River to Chinese state-owned enterprises under the CPEC programme.

The Neelum River marks the divide between Indian- and Pakistani-administered territory in western Kashmir, before it merges with the Jhelum River, a major tributary of the Indus. This in turn supplies water from Himalayan glaciers to an estimated 270 million people in Pakistan and northwest India.

Asma Khan Lone, author of an upcoming book on the history and the geopolitics of the region called The Great Gilgit Game, drew a parallel between Pakistan’s new cartographic claim to the Indian-held Siachen Glacier – a huge source of fresh water – and China’s efforts to “weaponise water” in Ladakh by building dykes for what she described as “tactical flooding”.

Previously vacant because of its extreme altitude, the Siachen Glacier was occupied by Indian forces in 1984, prompting years of intermittent fighting between India and Pakistan at an average elevation of more than 5,400 metres above sea level until a ceasefire was agreed in 2003. The glacier is notorious for killing far more soldiers with its extreme environment than enemy artillery shells ever did: in April 2012, 129 soldiers and 11 civilian contractors were killed after an avalanche buried a Pakistani military base in the nearby Gayari sector.

The huge cost of waging war on the glacier, both in terms of finances and human lives, has so far prevented skirmishes breaking out there in the same way they have done elsewhere along the Line of Control since 2016.

But tensions are on the rise. In February last year, Indian warplanes crossed into Pakistani air space near the glacier. Delhi has also recently started reasserting its claims to Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir by including both in the country’s official weather forecasts since May, while Indian military chiefs have declared their forces ready to seize the territory if so ordered.

Kugelman of the Wilson Centre said Pakistan’s new political map is “presumably meant to push back” against such threats – but like India’s bombast, he said it is driven more by domestic politics than long term strategic plans.

“I don’t think we should read too much into this map,” he said. “It is just the latest subcontinental case of using cartography to appeal to nationalism at home, while taking a shot at the enemy next door.”

Zhou Rong, a senior fellow at Renmin University’s Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies who has researched Pakistan and Afghanistan, said the risk of a third war between Delhi and Islamabad over Kashmir was very real.

“India also realises that ties between Pakistan and the US has become less important over the years, and that Washington has stood on its side during its conflicts with Pakistan,” he said. “This has enabled India to become even more confident.”

He added that “many countries are unwilling to offend India” as they are “increasingly reliant” on it economically. “Many traditionally Islamic countries have also forged better relationships with Dehi, seeing it as an important market for their energy exports,” he said.


https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/poli...hmir-map-links-it-china-fuelling-indias-fears

why china is not showing its map in laddakh ?

 

[achhu]

According to Indians Russians love Indians like brothers. They are willing to give up half of Russian territories just to support India.

russia sided with us in 1971, we have very good relations with them . they are going to help us when need arises.

 

[beijingwalker]

russia sided with us in 1971, we have very good relations with them . they are going to help us when need arises.

Not if you are hell bent to become an US lackey.

 

[OIO]

why china is not showing its map in laddakh ?

Theoretically China and Pakistan will re negotiate the whole border after the borders with India are settled.

 

[Chhatrapati]

Today Indians are making the statements we used to - the world truly has gone upside down

Isn't that the purpose of a nuclear deterrent?

 

[M.AsfandYar]

Today Indians are making the statements we used to - the world truly has gone upside down

From 2010 to 2020 how the tables have turned.

 

[kingQamaR]

china will never join pakistan in war , it will be immediately attacked by russia the old friend of india .

Russian were never on your side. Like in 1962 when Chinese went to war and beat you And now in Ladakh.

 

[atan651]

I like to see a "pincer" attack on India by China and Pakistan at the same time.

 

[SQ8]

Isn't that the purpose of a nuclear deterrent?

Usually used by the weaker power - how does it feel to be in those(misconstrued) shoes?

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

Theoretically China and Pakistan will re negotiate the whole border after the borders with India are settled.

We are an Islamic state, we have no interests in ruling over Buddhist majority areas by force. Unlike India, we don't want to hold a population hostage due to our whims.

Buddhist parts of Ladakh belong with Tibet, which is sovereign Chinese territory.

We will negotiate with China, but first this foreign Indian state must be expelled, it has no business in this region.

 

[achhu]

Everyone here is indulging in trolling and pissing contest but I have a foreboding Pak_China is playing a long game here.
I feel short n medium term they want to bleed India economically in the border and defence purchases .
Long term, perhaps 2040 or so when China is waay powerful in the world stage, either they expect to browbeat India to accept a " solution" proposed by them( eg give Muslim areas of J&K to Pak and Tawang to China), or,
They mount a joint offensive to wrest the entirety of J&K , give it to Pak and dismember NE and make it a friendly buffer country.
This way China will face India only in Himachal & Uttaranchal sectors ( no dispute) and the headchhe to Pak & NE?
They are trying to habituate this idea by suddenly coming up with a new map and raising it in the UN.
In the latter scenario I expect the PLA to enter NE via Bhutan ( on pretext Indian military is based there) as this time they won't have the surprise factor of 62 and won't expect a cakewalk.
Indian military and political elites should game such eventualities even if unlikely..

well better you start building your economy which is gone in deep sea seeing these dreams from last 70 years .
yes china is formidable enemy , we have solutions for them .

 

[Nilgiri]

Well, if we are gonna lose, we will make sure nobody wins. If that means Mushroom clouds over the entire subcontinent and Beijing so be it.

This is a stupid thing to say from elite member esp.

There is no reason to assert it that way in front of folks with Nathu La refusal to digest folks and KL summit still on plate types.

They are just here to have their regular chit chat potpourri among themselves.

World and reality goes different and you can see how their fun times change in here from that too....its best way rather than get heated or give some dumb counterthreat.

The psychology of relations with Arab countries especially was interesting to observe, after they audaciously decorated lowly tea-seller after art. 370....and KL was supposed to be the singular breakout-stronk in response to that.

Nathu La, Sikkim, Doklam and mere existence of Tawang similarly brings up demons that are quite uncomfortable exorcising for the bot-brigade from 5 tibet airbases and narrow logistics country.

Why you bringing up nukes? That is totally stupid...do better.

 

[Figaro]

yes china is formidable enemy , we have solutions for them .

Banning Tik Tok and other Chinese apps while begging the PLA to withdraw from Indian territory sounds like a great solution to me

 

[M.AsfandYar]

This is a stupid thing to say from elite member esp.

There is no reason to assert it that way in front of folks with Nathu La refusal to digest folks and KL summit still on plate types.

They are just here to have their regular chit chat potpourri among themselves.

World and reality goes different and you can see how their fun times change in here from that too....its best way rather than get heated or give some dumb counterthreat.

The psychology of relations with Arab countries especially was interesting to observe, after they audaciously decorated lowly tea-seller after art. 370....and KL was supposed to be the singular breakout-stronk in response to that.

Nathu La, Sikkim, Doklam and mere existence of Tawang similarly brings up demons that are quite uncomfortable exorcising for the bot-brigade from 5 tibet airbases and narrow logistics country.

Why you bringing up nukes? That is totally stupid...do better.

What makes you think from the one sitting across these words arent exactly the same in relation to the otherside?

 

[IceCold]

Well, if we are gonna lose, we will make sure nobody wins. If that means Mushroom clouds over the entire subcontinent and Beijing so be it.

Nuclear threat so soon lol. The irony is Indians use to make fun of Pakistan and call it nuclear bluff, how the mighty have fallen.
Having said that in case of a war where Indian defeat is evident what makes you think both China and Pakistan would just sit back and let I Dia go nuclear? At the slightest hint you will be nuked first by both China and Pakistan till nothing is left that was once called India.