Jammu & Kashmir: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday while reiterating India’s stand on Pakistan-occupied-Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) said that the territory’s people will soon ask for reunification with their country (India).
“In Pakistan, they are known and treated as foreigners. We consider them our own flesh and blood. They are as good Indian citizens as anyone of us is. I’m sure they will soon ask for reunion with their fellow Indians,” he said while addressing a BJP election rally in the highway town of Ramban, 136-km south of Srinagar.
In June this year, the Pakistani government had told the Islamabad High Court (IHC) which was hearing the kidnapping case of a Kashmiri poet and journalist Ahmed Farhad Shah that Azad Jammu and Kashmir (the official name of the held territory) is a “foreign territory”.
After being asked by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani of IHC why Shah could not be presented to the court, Pakistan’s Additional Attorney General had argued that it could not be done as he was in police custody in a “foreign territory” with its own constitution and its own court. He also told the court that the judgements of Pakistani courts in PoJK appear as “judgements of foreign courts”.
Referring to it, Mr. Singh said, “The Pakistani government has described the PoJK people as foreigners. I want to tell them that the Government of India firmly believes that they are Indian citizens. Time is not far when people of PoJK would themselves come forward and express their desire to be part of India physically”.
He said the Government of India is committed to retrieving PoJK. He added that the Indian Parliament had in 1994 passed a resolution wherein it was unanimously accepted by all parties that Pakistan has to vacate the areas of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir which are under its illegal occupation.
Promising to make J&K a model welfare state in the next ten years if the BJP is voted to power, the Defence Minister asked people of the Union Territory to vote for its candidates wholeheartedly in the Assembly elections being held in three phases from September 18.
“It would be a historic election as not only the people of entire India are keenly watching it but outside the country too a lot of interesting is being shown”, he said, adding, “I was recently in the USA and the Indian expatriates there asked me what is going to be these elections like and what would be the fate of the contestants and I categorically told them that there would be a BJP government in J&K.”
Mr. Singh further stated, “Not just the NRKs, but the people across the globe are watching the J&K elections. The people here in J&K must give the BJP a chance to serve them for the next ten years. You will see a new J&K unfolding if the BJP comes to power here.”
Without naming her, the Home Minister said that former Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti had threatened that the entire J&K will be on fire if Article 370 is touched. “We revoked it and not a single bullet was fired. Today, a peaceful atmosphere is prevailing in the entire J&K,” he said.
Endorsing his party colleague and Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent statement on the issue, Mr. Singh said that Articles 370 and 35A have been consigned to history and no power on earth can restore these in the Indian Constitution as long as the BJP is there.
In an obvious reference to the National Conference (NC)’ s promising to work towards holding dialogue with Pakistan on Kashmir, the Home Minister said that a delegation of the Indian Parliamentarian was sent to Kashmir to talk to separatist amalgam Hurriyat Conference but its leaders closed their doors on them.
Referring to NC leader and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah ‘s assertion that Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru’s execution did not serve any useful purpose, the Defence Minister asked, “What was India supposed to do with him (Guru) then if he was not to be hanged?”
He also said apart from ensuring peace is strengthened in J&K and the Union Territory witnesses further development, the BJP if voted to power will ensure safe and dignified return of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley.
