Pakistan on Monday denied a media report that it circulated a new map without showing the Line of Control dividing Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
Pakistan's Daily Times, in a report from Washington, said a new map being circulated by some Pakistan embassies abroad also showed the Northern Areas, which formed part of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state, separately.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not circulated any map. There is no change in our position on Kashmir," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told reporters.
The newspaper report said some of Pakistan's embassies abroad are distributing a booklet, which contains a map of the Jammu and Kashmir that showed the Northern Areas separately whereas the territory was declared as part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir by PoK Supreme Court in 1995.
Part of Northern Areas has also been ceded by Pakistan to China under a treaty, which mentioned the cessation was subjected to renegotiation in the event of a change arising out of 'final settlement' of the Jammu and Kashmir issue.
The report claimed the LoC has also been removed on the map. The entire state, both Jammu and Kashmir and PoK has been shown as one, single, undivided entity, identified as Jammu and Kashmir state with the words 'disputed territory'appearing in very small letters under this appellation.
'The map is being handed out in Pakistan's diplomatic missions in a few European countries as part of a booklet containing basic information about the country', the report added.
Aslam also defended Pakistan naming most of its missiles after former Muslim rulers Ghaznavi, Ghauri and Abdali, which was objected to by Afghanistan.
"We have not received any request from the Afghan government. These are our common heroes. We have a shared history. If the missile are named after common heroes it is not to insult them but to acknowledge their contribution", she said.
