Commenting on the faux pas of releasing a booklet with Jammu and Kashmir shown as Indian occupied Kashmir, the Congress party on Sunday said it was 'a clerical mistake.'

Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed asserted that Kashmir is an integral part of the nation and that the portion illegitimately occupied by Pakistan belongs to India.

"It might have been a clerical printing mistake. Kashmir is a part of India. The Congress party believes that even the portion of Kashmir which is occupied by Pakistan illegitimately is also India's. This might be a printing mistake," said Ahmed.

Another Congress leader Raj Babbar said that the people responsible for the printing of the pamphlet have admitted their mistake and that there was no need to make an issue out of the matter. "People who were responsible for the printing of the pamphlet have given their statements. We should not make this an issue," said Babbar.

However the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) didn't seem to think it was a trivial matter, and demanded an apology on Sunday from Congress president Sonia Gandhi on yesterday's release of a booklet with Jammu and Kashmir shown as Indian occupied Kashmir.

"Kashmir is the integral part of India and the PoK (Pak occupied Kashmir) is also integral part of India. But this is very unfortunate. The Congress president must apologise to the country because Ghulam Nabi Azad was saying the same thing which was continually said by Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. We strongly condemn it," said BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain.

Echoing similar sentiment, another BJP leader S. Prakash said that the Congress party has always politicised matters of national security and that such things could never be forgiven.

"The Congress party for the last three years has been indulging in politicising the internal security and the national security. This has again been proved. They must apologise to the country. A party which ruled India for over 50 years today is not prepared to accept Kashmir as part of India? This is shameful," he said.

The Congress party yesterday stirred a controversy when its senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad released a booklet with Jammu and Kashmir shown as Indian occupied Kashmir.

The wrong map was published on page 12 of the 15-page booklet titled 'National Security Endangered. Bravado, Rhetoric, Hyperbole Rules' about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.