Date:07/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/07/stories/2009010750500200.htm

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

UNAIDS accused of distorting India’s map

Special Correspondent

Thiruvananthapuram: The Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice (CHANS) has demanded a public apology from the United Nations Secretary General for publishing the map of India in a distorted manner on the official web site of UNAIDS.

At a press conference here on Tuesday, CHANS leaders Purushothaman Mulloli, Anoop Anand Yogi and Gokulapalan accused the Defence Ministry of abject failure in taking action against the U.N. agency and prosecuting the individuals responsible for the crime.

They said the erroneous depiction of the country’s territorial borders amounted to treason.

CHANS alleged that the prime agenda of UNAIDS was to present the idea that Jammu and Kashmir was not an integral part of India. “The J&K area has been deleted from the 2008 report published jointly by the WHO and UNAIDS.”