India protests Saudi Arabia’s distortion of map on special G20 currency note by removing J&K

King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (File image: Reuters)

India has lodged a protest with Saudi Arabia over the distortion of Indian boundaries in a global map printed behind the country’s new 20 Riyal currency note. The map shows undivided Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh excluded from India.

The new currency note was released by Saudi Arabia to commemorate the kingdom’s presidency of the Group of Twenty (G20) international forum.

The new note features King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and the 2020 G20 Summit logo on one side. A world map highlighting G20 nations in a darker shade on the other is shown on the rear side.

The map shows the entire Jammu and Kashmir, including Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), as a separate territory.

Some on social media have hailed this as a major Saudi diplomatic snub to Pakistan saying the kingdom, known to be a Pakistani ally in the past, does not accept Pakistani territorial claims over J&K.

However, the distortion was with the Indian map as well as it shows J&K to be a separate entity. According to a report by India Today, India has taken up the matter with the Saudi Arabian embassy in New Delhi and the foreign ministry in Riyadh through the Indian mission there.