Ladakh Lieutenant Governor Kavinder Gupta on Tuesday asked China to stop its infrastructure construction projects in the Shaksgam Valley, saying the Chinese activity in the area “is illegal and cannot be tolerated”.
“We do not know what Pakistan has traded with China, but it should understand that nothing will be achieved through its expansionist policy,” he told reporters in Jammu.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, when asked on Friday about Chinese infrastructure build-up in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and in the Shaksgam Valley, had said, “Shaksgam Valley is Indian territory. We have never recognised the so-called China-Pakistan boundary agreement that happened in 1963. We have consistently maintained that the agreement is illegal and invalid.” However, a Chinese government spokesperson has reaffirmed the country’s claims to the territory, citing a “boundary agreement” signed between China and Pakistan in the 1960s and saying, “It’s fully justified for China to conduct infrastructure construction on its own territory.”
On Tuesday, Ladakh L-G Gupta asked China to stop the construction activity and said it should realise that India is stronger now than it was in the past. “India is capable and it is not the India of 1962,” he said, adding that the central government has taken cognisance of the matter.
“We believe that this valley was illegally occupied by Pakistan and belongs to us,” Gupta said. “We will take action in our own way.”
He described Pakistan as “a state kept on sale” and said it has failed its own people. “It is indulging in questionable dealings to get some money from China and it has no concern for its sovereignty… As such, voices are being raised in Balochistan, Sindh and Karachi against atrocities being committed by the Pakistan Army on the people there,” he said.
