DRAWING MAPS IN THE MIND

EVER since independence, India has been concerned about the depiction of its northern borders, as Pakistan and China laid claim to territory.

- PRATIK KANJILAL

After the 1962 war with China, India began to stamp inaccuracy notices on maps in imported books and atlases that deviated from its official map. In 1976, customs inspectors were empowered to prohibit literature with maps that did not cleave to the line. In January 1995, an edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica was banned for presenting a map that showed Pakistan Occupied Kashmir as part of Pakistan.

Arunachal Pradesh, too, is an old issue. Editorialists, including me, had fun at the expense of the government as it slogged on grimly like a resident's welfare association uncle trying to maintain order.

Maps can depict the world both as it is and as it should be. The merits and demerits of these competing perceptions were hotly debated in important forums like the bar of the India International Centre in Delhi. Some uncle could be counted upon to pipe up: "But what about Aksai Chin?" This stock character was lampooned by those who wanted to leave map mania behind.

But in hindsight, there was nothing funny about it, because China is now relying on idealised maps to legitimise expansionist aims in South Asia. When Zhou Enlai visited Delhi in April 1960, he proposed a compromise to settle territorial disputes between China and India over Aksai Chin and the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA). Jawaharlal Nehru rejected the offer, insisting that both regions were part of India. Border skirmishes continued, followed by the Indo-China war.