India has conveyed ‘serious concern’ to Saudi Arabia over a banknote issued by the country recently with “gross misrepresentation of India’s external territorial boundaries”.
This was stated by Anurag Srivastava, the official spokesperson of the Union external affairs ministry during the weekly briefing on Thursday.
Srivastava said the central government has taken up the issue at the diplomatic level with Saudi Arabia.
During the briefing, Srivastava said: “The note was issued by Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority on October 24 to mark the occasion of Saudi presidency of the G20.”
“We have conveyed our serious concern to Saudi Arabia, both through their Ambassador in New Delhi as well as in Riyadh, for this gross misrepresentation of India’s external territorial boundaries on an official and legal banknote of Saudi Arabia and asked the Saudi side for taking urgent corrective steps in this regard,” Srivastava said.
The ministry spokesperson further said: “I would like to further reiterate that entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are integral parts of India.”
The map on the banknote shows Kashmir as a separate entity between India and Pakistan.