Monday, 20 January 2025
Monday, 20 January 2025
Defence minister Rajnath Singh Sunday described Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as the "crown jewel of India" and asserted that Jammu and Kashmir was incomplete without it.
The senior BJP leader also accused Pakistan of continuing its conspiracy to foster terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
"It (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) is the crown jewel of India and Jammu and Kashmir is incomplete without it," he said.
"For Pakistan, the Kashmir occupied by it is nothing more than a foreign territory being used to promote terrorism and anti-India propaganda. Terror camps and launch pads there (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) should be dismantled or it will face an appropriate response," Singh added.
Earlier, on Tuesday, Singh had accused Pakistan of making persistent attempts to destabilise India by sponsoring terrorism and said it must dismantle its terror infrastructure in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) or face consequences.
Singh’s comments follow a contentious issue among the BJP for the past 10 years that it has been in power. In his first two terms, Prime Minister Narendra Modi fulfilled many of these electoral promises such as abrogation of Article 370 to triple talaq.
The saffron party campaigned intensely on the PoK plank ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the PoK promise was ignited by Union home minister Amit Shah.
Addressing an election rally at Sreerampore in Hooghly on May 15, 2024, Shah had said, “Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) is part of India”.
“If Mamata Didi and Rahul Gandhi are afraid of Pakistan let them be so. But I declare that PoK belongs to India, and we will take it back,” he had declared.
A few days before, on May 5, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar had said that PoK is part of India.
Days after Shah’s comments that Pakistan belonged to India, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath claimed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir would become a part of India within just six months of Modi 3.0.
“It has become difficult for Pakistan to save Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Let PM Modi become the Prime Minister for the third time and within six months, PoK will become part of India,” Adityanath was quoted as saying in a public rally in Maharashtra's Palghar.
A week after Shah’s remark in Hooghly, Congress’s Rajeev Shukla jabbed the saffron party.
"They (BJP) should have taken back PoK in these 10 years, it's enough time to take it back, you have the majority,” Shukla had told ANI.
“Indira Gandhi got power and broke Pakistan into two pieces, that's the record of Congress. Whatever we say, we do openly. BJP talks about the future but when the time comes, it does nothing. Congress's stand is that PoK is an integral part of India," he had added.
The BJP’s Lok Sabha seats came down to 240 in 2024, from 303 in 2019. The party now depends on coalition partners for running the government.
There was over a five-month gap from the day of the election results until October 17, when the RSS chief brought back the PoK narrative into the political stream.
Bhagwat said that Gilgit-Baltistan, which is referred to as PoK, was an integral part of India during his annual Vijayadashami speech at the Reshimbagh Ground in Nagpur.
"The country is growing. There are some countries in the world who don't want to see India progress. They at times get support from people within. Kashmir is a serious concern. The commitment of our government is clear that Kashmir is an integral part of India and so is Gilgit-Baltistan," Bhagwat said.
But Singh’s comments come after a hiatus of BJP leaders not broaching the topic.
The PoK promise in Modi’s term was started by the Prime Minister in two years of forming the government in 2014. On August 12, 2016, ahead of India’s independence day, Modi has said,
“When we talk about Jammu and Kashmir, then we should talk about four regions — Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK),” he had added.
In his Independence day speech of 2016, Modi had mentioned PoK from the ramparts of the Red Fort.
"I am grateful to the people of Balochistan, Gilgit and PoK who have thanked me in the past few days. If people of Balochistan thank me, they are thanking the 125 crore Indians," the PM said.
PoK, a contested zone, was annexed illegally by Pakistani insurgents in 1947. It comprises what Pakistan refers to as Azad Kashmir and India refers to as PoK.
PoK constitutes 13,297 square kilometres and a population of 40 lakh. More than 280 villages along the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side fall in this region. PoK has its own government which was formed in 1947. It has its own elected president, prime minister, legislative Assembly, and a high court.
A resolution was unanimously accepted by all political parties in the Parliament in 1994 and said that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India, and that Pakistan must vacate parts of the State under its occupation.
“Pakistan must vacate the areas of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, which they have occupied through aggression,” the resolution said.
