Srinagar: As the clock struck 12 and a new day beckoned, Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday transitioned from a state into two union territories with a wary Valley shutting down as it has for 88 days.
This is the first time a state has been downsized into union territories, the two new entities taking the total number of UTs to nine and bringing down the number of states in India to 28.
The move is under the government's August 5 announcement withdrawing the state's special status under Article 370 and bifurcating the state into union territories.
Girish Chandra Murmu in Jammu and Kashmir and Radha Krishna Mathur in Ladakh stepped into history as the first lieutenant governors of the new union territories. Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal administered the oath of office to the new appointees, first in Leh and then later in the day in Srinagar.
India on Thursday hit back at China over its objection to the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories, saying the reorganisation is entirely its internal affair and it does not expect other countries to comment on such matters.
India also said that China continues to be in occupation of a large tract of area in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
"It has also illegally acquired Indian territories from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) under the so-called China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of 1963," a statement quoted Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar as saying.
Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated on Thursday into two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh - following the government's August 5 announcement revoking the state's special status under Article 370.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told the media in Beijing on Thursday that "India unilaterally changed its domestic laws and administrative division challenging China's sovereignty."
"This is unlawful and void, and this is not effective in any way and will not change the fact that the area is under actual Chinese control," he said.
Reacting to China's statement, Kumar said China is well aware of India's consistent and clear position on this issue.