India sets its agenda straight; Says it will retrieve PoJK from the illegal occupation of Pakistan
22 Nov 2021 13:41:54
New Delhi, November 22: Retrieving Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) is next on the agenda, said Union Minister Jitendra Singh. He was addressing the ‘Mirpur Balidan Diwas’ program dedicated to PoJK displaced persons, Singh said that leadership that had the capacity and the will to abrogate Article 370, also has the capacity to retrieve PoJK from the illegal occupation of Pakistan.
He stated that PoJK would have never happened if only Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was given a free hand in Jammu and Kashmir. He further linked the retrieval of PoJK to human rights. He said that it is not only a political and national agenda but also has to be looked upon as a responsibility because our brethren in PoJK are living in inhuman conditions. And they have mercilessly denied even basic amenities like healthcare and education.
He further stated by saying, “It was always believed and said that Article 370 would never be abrogated but under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this was made possible and in the same way the resolve to retrieve PoJK would also be accomplished,” he said. Calling the partition of the Indian subcontinent the greatest tragedy in the history of mankind, the minister said that while India suffered the tragedy of partition, Jammu and Kashmir suffered the second tragedy of losing out a part of the erstwhile state to the illegal occupation of Pakistan. Singh, who is also a Lok Sabha member from Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur constituency, also said that Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who successfully integrated over 560 princely states at the time of independence, was kept out of Jammu and Kashmir because Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to handle J&K at his own level.
Even after Pakistan attacked J&K in the autumn of 1947, Nehru was hesitant to send Indian forces to J&K and it was only after empathic intervention by Patel that the first contingent of Sikh Regiment landed in Srinagar, said Singh.