India assessing China’s changing position on Jammu and Kashmir

TOKYO - India is assessing China’s hardened stand and increased presence in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the issue is likely to come up during the

forthcoming meeting between Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao that will take place on the sidelines of East Asia Summit in Hanoi later this week, said informed sources.

“China says that there is no change in its position on J and K. But in practice,there is a change in situation. India has taken it up with China very strongly and is in the process of assessing it,” sources said.

China has made massive investments in the infrastructure and telecomector in Giilgit-Baltistan and have built Karakoram highway, China islso building massive Bungi Dam in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and media reports also suggest that there is concentration of People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Highly placed sources also indicated that China has shown keenness toestore high-level defense cooperation that was paused unilaterally byndia when China refused to give regular visa to chief of northern command S.S. Jaswal because he was commanding Kashmir, which Beijing perceives as a disputed territory.

India suspended high-level defence cooperation when Jaswal was refused the regular visa, however, flag-meetings between the border officials continued.

Sources also indicated that special representatives of both the countriesre expected to meet soon.

Other regional, global and bilateral issues including the boundary dispute and climate change are also likely to come up during the Singh- Jiabao meeting. By Naveen Kapoor (ANI)