Into the 8th year of the Modi regime, PoK back as ‘priority’ in agenda

While the then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel sent the Sikh Regiment, PM Jawaharlal Nehru unilateral ceasefire made the forces retrieve and part of Kashmir was occupied by Pakistan.

New Delhi: After achieving and implementing Triple Talaq, abrogation of Art 370 and construction process for a grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya, it is natural that important 'nationalistic' program such as retrieving Pak-Occupied J&K is now on the agenda of the Modi government.

"Retrieving Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) is next on the agenda," no less than Jitendra Singh, MoS in the PMO, has said this.

"PoK ke liye hum jaan de sakten haen" – Home Minister Amit Shah had said in Lok Sabha on Aug 6, 2019. Shah also had said – "Kashmir is an integral part of India, there is no doubt about it. When I say Jammu and Kashmir, I include Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Aksai Chin, both are included in the territorial boundaries of Jammu and Kashmir."

Importantly, Jitendra Singh had made the statement addressing the 'Mirpur Balidan Diwas' programme dedicated to PoJK displaced persons on November 21. Singh also said that even after Pakistan attacked J&K in 1947, India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru was hesitant to send Indian forces. It was only after intervention by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel that the first contingent of the Sikh Regiment landed in Srinagar. He further said that Nehru had declared a unilateral ceasefire, which disallowed the forces to retrieve the entire territory of Jammu and Kashmir captured by Pakistan.

There has been a bitter and fierce political battle in the region on these issues.

PDP leader and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, has said PM Modi should dialogue with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir conflict. The BJP and the Kashmiri Pandit leaders have always maintained that Pakistan is not a stakeholder in India's 'internal matters'. Thus, they said, the PDP's stance was like playing a 'proxy' card on behalf of Islamabad.

The government notified the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act on August 9, 2019, providing that the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir shall increase from 107 to 114. The Kashmir valley region has 46 seats, and the Jammu region has 37 seats. After delimitation, seven more seats are likely to be added to the Hindu-dominated Jammu division.

Of these, 24 seats fall under Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) and excluding these, the adequate strength of the new Assembly now would be 90 as compared to 83 before August 2019.

In September 2019, BJP's national vice president and Jammu and Kashmir in-charge, Avinash Rai Khanna, also said the 'dream' of integrating Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) with India would come true under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

On Monday, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, a former Union Minister and the ex-J&K CM said that India and Pakistan have to hold talks for peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

Notably, his remarks come a day after Union Minister Jitendra Singh said, retrieving Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) is on the agenda of the government of India.