The board of governors in supersession of the Medical Council of India have declared that Pakistan is in illegal occupation of Indian territory in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and any qualification obtained from these areas will not be recognized to allow the practice of medicine in India.
The signaling on medical degrees emanating from PoK is akin to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) giving weather bulletins for areas in Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh (POJKL).
In a notice issued on Monday, R.K. Vats, Secretary-General of the body, said, "This is to inform all concerned that the entire territories of UT of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral part of India. Pakistan is in the illegal and forcible occupation of a part of the territory".
"Accordingly, any medical institution in Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh requires permission/recognition under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. Such permission has not been granted to any medical college in POJKL," Vats said.
"Therefore, any qualification obtained from medical colleges located in these illegally occupied areas of India shall not entitle a person for grant of registration under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 to practice modern medicine in India," he said.
It is not clear as to what triggered this notice and if any applications were received but it is amply clear that India's top medical regulator is laying down jurisdiction claims on medical colleges in POJKL. This is another strong signal to Pakistan that the areas occupied by it are an integral part of India.
The IMD has already started giving weather bulletins for areas in POJKL including Gilgit Baltistan, Mirpur, and Muzaffarabad. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry had announced that DD News and All India Radio will broadcast temperatures and weather reports of Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, and Gilgit in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in their prime-time news bulletins.
The IMD had said that these cities are part of India and that it would give out their weather updates in its daily bulletin..
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