Rajnath Singh, the defence minister, stated in Jammu on Monday that Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) is, was, and will always be a part of India. By continuing to assert its claim to PoK, the Pakistani government will accomplish nothing. He emphasised that Pakistan is not the locus standi because the PoK is illegally occupied.
“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,” Rajnath Singh stated.
The defence minister was speaking at a “security conclave” at Jammu University on the internal and external aspects of the nation’s military system with special emphasis 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,” Singh said.
Repealing Article 370 was right decision, those who incited seperatism and hatred facing trouble: Rajnath Singh
Speaking on the repeal of Article 370 in J-K, he claimed that the BJP did the right thing by the people of Jammu and Kashmir, who had endured decades of unfair treatment, by repealing the law.
“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,” the defence minister Rajnath Singh further added.
He said that the decision to repeal Article 370 has been well received by the populace. “The trouble is only for those whose shop of hatred and separatism is getting closed,” Rajnath Singh 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,” Rajnath told.
Indo-US joint statement mirrors how India changed perception on terrorism around the world: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh
Rajnath Singh continued by stating that the Joint Statement released by US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Modi made it very evident that India has shifted the perception of terrorism throughout the whole world, especially in America.
“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,” Rajnath Singh said.
The minister added that although there are “perception differences” with China, there are certain agreements and norms that both nations’ forces monitor the borders in accordance with.
“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.
Additionally, he said that Chinese soldiers’ disregard for the “agreed protocols” was the cause of the conflict in East Ladakh in 2020. “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,” Rajnath went on to say.
Singh said that the government began taking decisive action against terrorism under the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and for the first time, both the nation and the world at large understood what Zero Tolerance for Terrorism meant.
“AFSPA has been removed from large parts of North East as we have successfully controlled the problem of insurgency in North East India. I am waiting for the day when there will be Permanent Peace in J-K and there will be a chance to remove AFSPA from here too,” Rajnath Singh went on to say.
