A minor controversy erupted on Friday during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Queensland University of Technology (QUT), where the Indian map on display had Kashmir missing from it.
Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh lodged a strong protest prompting QUT to issue an ‘unqualified apology.’
Confirming this, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson, Syed Akbaruddin, tweeted, “India’s Foreign Secretary raised the issue strongly and received an unqualified apology.”
He was responding to a question whether the issue was raised after it was noticed that Kashmir was missing from the Indian map displayed by the organisers.
Akbaruddin followed it up with another tweet: “Immediately lodged strong protest and received an unqualified regret from the organisers,”
A Twitter handle named Samajwadi Party, with an image of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, had asked Mr Akbaruddin: “Kashmir missing in the Map shown during @PMOIndia visit to @QUT @MEAIndia any objection raised? (sic)”
Mr. Modi visited the university in his first engagement after landing in Brisbane on Friday.
Mr. Modi is in Australia to attend the G-20 Summit in Brisbane and will also hold talks with Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Canberra.
Within hours after his arrival following an overnight flight from Myanmar, Modi headed for the QUT for the first engagement of his five-day Australia visit, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 28 years after Rajiv Gandhi.
