While China on Tuesday objected to the formation of Ladakh as Union Territory by India, evoking a sharp reaction from New Delhi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) backed India on its decision to revoke provisions of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir and bifurcate the State into two Union Territories.
The US and the UN have said that they are they are following Kashmir issue “with concern” and urged India, Pakistan to “exercise restraint”. The UK Government too said that it was monitoring the situation in Kashmir closely and called for calm, British MPs were divided over Article 370 revocation.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that the creation of Ladakh as a Union Territory is an internal matter of India.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said China has always opposed to India’s inclusion of the Chinese territory in the western sector of the China-India boundary into its administrative jurisdiction. Reacting strongly, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, “The J-K Reorganisation Bill 2019, introduced by the Government in Parliament on August 5, which proposes the formation of a new ‘Union Territory of Ladakh’ is an internal matter concerning the territory of India. India does not comment on the internal affairs of other countries and similarly expects other countries to do likewise.”
Meanwhile the UAE’s Ambassador to India, Ahmad Al Banna, said he viewed India’s decisions relating to Jammu & Kashmir as an internal matter of the country. “We expect that the changes would improve social justice and security and confidence of the people in the local governance and will encourage further stability and peace,” he was quoted as saying by the Gulf News.
“We also took note of the introduction of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill in the Indian Parliament aimed at replacing Article 370 with the creation of Ladakh region and the state of Jammu and Kashmir as India’s two new Union Territories,” he said.
He observed that the reorganisation of states is not a unique incident in the history of independent India and that it was mainly aimed at reducing regional disparity and improving efficiency.
Earlier, UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was following “with concern” the tense situation in the India-Pakistan region after the Indian Government scrapped Article 370 and urged the two neighbours to exercise restraint.