PoK Is, Was and Will Remain A Part Of India: Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) is, was and will remain a part of India.

The Union Minister stated that illegal occupation of the PoK does not make locus standi of Pakistan.

"A unanimous resolution has been passed in the Parliament of India regarding PoK that it is a part of India only. Not one but at least three proposals of this intention have now been passed in the Parliament," ANI quoted Singh as saying at a "security conclave" organized at Jammu University on internal and external dimensions of the country's defence mechanism, with a particular focus on Jammu and Kashmir.

"A large part of Jammu and Kashmir is under the occupation of Pakistan. People on other side are seeing that people are living their lives peacefully in J-K. People living in POK going through a lot of suffering and they will raise demand to go with India," he stated.

Talking about the abrogation of Article 370 in J-K, the BJP has given justice to the people of Jammu and Kashmir through the abrogation of Article 370, ANI reported.

"Because of Article 370 and 35A, the common people of Jammu and Kashmir were kept away from the mainstream of the country for a long time, it was a hindrance in taking action against any anti-national force," he said. He pointed out that the general public is happy with the decision of abrogation of the article that had given special status to the Jammu and Kashmir. "The trouble is only for those whose shop of hatred and separatism is getting closed," he added.

"We have managed to stop the funding of terrorism, stopped the supply of weapons and drugs and along with the elimination of terrorists, the work of dismantling the network of underground workers working here is also going on," he said.

The Defence Minister claimed said that the joint statement issued by Prime Minister Modi with US President Joe Biden has made it clear that India has changed the mindset of the whole world including America on the issue of terrorism. "The countries that use terrorism as a state policy have to understand very well that this game is not going to last long, today most of the big countries of the world are united against terrorism," he said.

The minister further emphasized that despite disparities in perception with China, there exist established agreements and protocols that facilitate coordinated border patrols by the armed forces of both nations.

"Our other neighbour country is China. Even with China, many times there are differences on some issues. It is true that there is a perception difference regarding the border with China for a long time. Despite this, there are some agreements and protocols following which the armies of both countries patrol at borders. These agreements were made in the time of Narasimhrao ji, Atalji and in the time of Dr Manmohan Singh ji on the basis of the consent of both the countries," he said.

The Union Minister stated that the issue in East Ladakh in 2020 arose after China ignored the "agreed protocols". "The reason for the dispute that arose in East Ladakh in the year 2020 was that the Chinese forces ignored the Agreed Protocols. Chinese Army PLA tried to make some changes on LAC in a unilateral manner which was thwarted by Indian troops," he added.