Australia: The website of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) of Australia omitted the states of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as part of India on its website.
However, with no protests from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India (GOI) on the matter yet, there are demands that GOI should lodge a complaint against Australia to prevent such occurrences in the future. India’s former high commissioner to Australia, G. Parthasarathy suggested that the MEA should be tough and raise the issue with their Australian counterpart.
Parthasarthy said Australia tends to be ambivalent on certain issues and particularly have an intrusive role in the matters of the Commonwealth countries. The issue should be viewed seriously in the aftermath of China, issuing stapled visas for J&K residents, thereby questioning the very status of the state, experts said. India had then strongly raised the matter during various meetings with China.
Earlier, the Indian community in Australia had lodged strong protests with the Australian government over the incorrect map. Following this Australian Government admitted the error and assured that it will be removed from DIAC website.
Diplomats in the Australian high commission in Delhi said the map was an error and is being removed from the website. They claimed that it was probably a technical error and indicated that the Australian Government might probe on how the error occurred. Peeved over the development, Council of Indian Australians Inc (CIA), that represents the Indian-Australian community in New South Wales, said in a statement that it has “expressed its strongest displeasure at the incorrect map of India in the DIAC’s website.”
Source: India Today
