India formally protests Saudi commemorative banknote, for exclusion of IOJK from country's map

India has launched a formal protest against the representation of the Indian map on the 20 Riyal banknote, which excluded Occupied Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh from India in its global map.

The banknote was released earlier this week to mark the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's presidency of the G20 Summit, with the new banknote featuring King Salman and the G20 Saudi Summit logo, alongside a world map highlighting the other G20 countries. The main point of contention revolves around the exclusion of Occupied Jammu & Kashmir from the Indian map, and highlighting it as a separate territory altogether.

As reported by Indian media outlets, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs has formally taken up the matter with the Saudi embassy in New Delhi, and through the Indian Mission in Riyadh. Their Saudi counterparts have yet to respond.

India and Saudi Arabia’s ties have grown exponentially in recent times, with Narendra Modi signing a Strategic Partnership Council Agreement with the Kingdom in October 2019, which identified India as one of the kingdom's strategic partner countries under 'Vision 2030' with a high-level partnership council at the leadership level.