Sources – ANI
Union Minister and former Army chief General VK Singh (retd) on Monday said that Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) would merge with India on its own after some time.
He made the comments when asked about the demands of the people in POK that the region should be merged with India and what was the BJP’s stand on the issue.
“POK apne aap Bharat ke andar aayega. Thoda thand rakh. (POK will merge with India on its own. Wait for some time)”, he told reporters in Rajasthan’s Dausa, where Assembly polls are slated to be held later this year.
His remarks also came against the backdrop of China releasing its latest “standard map”, which included the Aksai Chin in Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh and some disputed areas in the South China Sea. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar raised strong objection to China’s map and said it was “their old habit”.
“China has put out maps with territories (that are) not theirs. (It is an) old habit. Just by putting out maps with parts of India… this doesn’t change in anything. Our government is very clear about what our territory is. Making absurd claims does not make other people’s territories yours,” Jaishankar told NDTV.
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The government has always maintained that POK has been, is and will remain an integral part of India. It has criticised Pakistan and its ally China for mentioning Kashmir in their joint references.
During the SCO Summit in Goa in May, Jaishankar slammed Pakistan for its promotion and funding of terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir and asked when it would “vacate the illegally occupied territories” there. Interestingly, he made the comments in the presence of then Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Last year, Jaishankar said that POK is a part of India and the country would have physical jurisdiction over it one day. “Our position on POK has always been and will always be very clear. POK is part of India,” he said.
