India infuriated after bank note issued by Saudi Arabia shows new borders for Kashmir

Saudi Arabia’s new banknote to mark the upcoming G20 summit has sparked an outage in India as it shows Kashmir with new borders as a separate state.

The currency note in question was issued on October 24 by Saudi Arabia to celebrate the kingdom's leadership of the Group of Twenty (G20). It contains a photo of King Salman bin Abdulaziz to the right on the front side with the Saudi G20 summit logo to the left. On the back side is a world map which appears to show Kashmir as a separate state.

The move has sparked outrage in India, which has illegally occupied Jammu & Kashmir, despite there being a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) decree recognising it as an international dispute.

The Independent, quoting Indian spokesperson Anurag Srivastava, reported that New Delhi had raised “serious concerns” about the banknote both at the Saudi embassy in India and through India’s embassy in Riyadh.

“We have taken up this gross misrepresentation of India’s external territorial boundaries on an official and legal banknote of Saudi Arabia… We’ve asked the Saudi side to take urgent corrective steps in this regard,” he said.

The G20 summit is set to be held from November 21-22 this year in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh.

Although India is a part of the G20, there is speculation it may not attend the summit this year

India Today, citing "a source", said: "Saudi Arabia will have to make changes to the banknote else it would be untenable for India to participate."