New Delhi: Lending support to Jammu and
Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna Friday said he found nothing wrong in his statement that the state had acceded and not merged with the
Union of India.
"I don`t think Omar Abdullah has said anything
objectionable. It is a fact that Jammu and Kashmir has acceded
to India just like Mysore acceded to India," Krishna said here
when asked how he saw the Chief Minister`s statement recently.
Krishna, during an interaction with a group of
journalists, noted that like in the case of Jammu and Kashmir,
the Maharaja of Mysore had also signed an accession treaty
"and I am a citizen of Mysore".
Abdullah had said in the Assembly that the state had
only acceded and not merged with Union of India and could not
be compared to Junagarh and Hyderabad.
The statement had triggered a controversy with BJP
criticising him for it.
At the same time, the External Affairs Minister asserted
that Jammu and Kashmir is a "legitimate part" of India.
To a question on China issuing stapled visas to those
hailing from Jammu and Kashmir, he said New Delhi has made it
clear to Beijing that it was not acceptable and that there was
need to be sensitive to each other`s concerns to build
relations.
"We have conveyed to them (China) that we do not accept
the stapled visas and we are not going to accept these,"
Krishna said about the Chinese refusal to issue visas to
people from J and K on their passports, an action which
amounts to questioning the state`s integration with India.
PTI
