Congress dubs booklet gaffe as 'clerical mistake'

Commenting on the faux pas of releasing a booklet with Jammu and Kashmir shown as Indian occupied Kashmir, the Congress party on Sunday said it was 'a clerical mistake.'

Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed asserted that Kashmir is an integral part of the nation and that the portion illegitimately occupied by Pakistan belongs to India.

"It might have been a clerical printing mistake. Kashmir is a part of India. The Congress party believes that even the portion of Kashmir which is occupied by Pakistan illegitimately is also India's. This might be a printing mistake," said Ahmed.

Another Congress leader Raj Babbar said that the people responsible for the printing of the pamphlet have admitted their mistake and that there was no need to make an issue out of the matter.

"People who were responsible for the printing of the pamphlet have given their statements. We should not make this an issue," said Babbar.

The Congress party yesterday stirred a controversy when its senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad released a booklet with a map of Jammu and Kashmir shown as Indian occupied Kashmir.

The wrong map on Kashmir was published on page 12 of the 15-page booklet titled "National Security Endangered. Bravado, Rhetoric, Hyperbole Rules" about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.