Krishna agrees with Omar, says J&K did accede

Lending support to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Friday said he found nothing wrong in his statement that the state had acceded and not merged with the Union of India.

"I don't think Omar Abdullah has said anything objectionable. It is a fact that Jammu and Kashmir has acceded to India just like Mysore acceded to India," Krishna said in New Delhi when asked how he saw the chief minister's recent statement.

Krishna, during an interaction with a group of journalists, noted that like in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, the maharaja of Mysore had also signed an accession treaty "and I am a citizen of Mysore".

Abdullah had said in the assembly that the state had only acceded and not merged with Union of India and could not be compared to Junagarh and Hyderabad.

The statement had triggered a controversy with the Bharatiya Janata Party criticising him for it.

However, the external affairs minister asserted that Jammu and Kashmir is a "legitimate part" of India.

To a question on China issuing stapled visas to those hailing from Jammu and Kashmir, he said New Delhi has made it clear to Beijing that it was not acceptable and that there was a need to be sensitive to each other's concerns to build relations.

"We have conveyed to them (China) that we do not accept the stapled visas and we are not going to accept these," Krishna said about the Chinese action which amounts to questioning the state's integration with India.