India opposes proposed bus service between Pakistan and China via PoK

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Ravish Kumar said on Wednesday that India marked protests with the two countries over the bus service under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

Chinese workers pose for a picture with Pakistani soldiers at a ceremony to open a pilot trade project in Gwadar port, some 700 kms west of Karachi on November 13, 2016. - Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on November 13 opened a trade route linking the southwestern post of Gwadar to the Chinese city of Kashgar as part of a joint multi-billion-dollar project to jumpstart economic growth in the South Asian country. (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI / AFP)

New Delhi: Disapproving of a proposed bus service between China and Pakistan through PoK, India on Wednesday lodged strong protests with both its rival neighbours claiming that it would be in clear violation of India's territorial integrity. Ministry of External Affairs spokespersom Ravish Kumar said on Wednesday that India marked protests with the two countries over the bus service under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project He said the bus service will be a violation of India's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Reports indicate that the new bus service will be launched on November 13 between Lahore in Pakistan and Kashgar in China via Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Responding to media queries regarding the proposed bus service Kumar said : “It has been India’s consistent and well-known position that the so-called China-Pakistan ‘Boundary Agreement of 1963 is illegal and invalid, and has never been recognised by the Government of India. "Therefore, any such bus service through Pakistan Occupied Jammu & Kashmir will be a violation of India's sovereignty and territorial integrity." China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a USD50-billion project of planned networks of roads, railways and energy projects linking China’s resource-rich Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region with Pakistan’s strategic Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea.