New Delhi, May 16: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said today that there should be no doubt that “Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir will come back to India” and added that there is “no Lakshman Rekha as far as PoK is concerned”.
Speaking at an event in Nashik, that was attended by Vijay Chauthaiwale, BJP’s in-charge of Foreign Affairs Department, Jaishankar also slammed Pakistan for its “policy of continuously going against India” which he said has brought the neighbouring country down.
To a question on PoK, which witnessed massive unrest by the people protesting against high taxes and electricity and food prices, he said that people there are seeing the development taking place in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Our own sense is that the people in POK are seeing the positive changes across the Line of Control in J&K, and they are asking themselves that if things are like that there, then why are we suffering and why are we accepting this kind of mistreatment.
“There is no doubt of the fact that the development taking place in J&K is having an effect in POK…
“So we’ll have to see where this goes, as eventually PoK is India and it will come back to India. I don’t think we should ever have any doubt about that,” he added.
“I was the envoy in China for some years, and what Beijing has done in cahoots with Islamabad, that too has an old history. So, we would tell them repeatedly that look, this land if you look at it legally, nor does Pakistan say it is their land, and nor does China say it is their land; if there is a sovereign claimant in the world it is only Bharat, seen legally.”
Giving an example in terms of a land dispute, he said, “Suppose there is a land dispute with someone here, and you are doing the occupation and constructing buildings on the land, but the legal title remains in my name,” to loud laughter.
“They know this, and there is also the fact that in 1963, after the 1962 war, Pakistan and China decided to forge their friendship and take it forward, and in 1963 Pakistan gifted China 5,000 km of PoK territory. In that agreement, it is written that eventually China will respect whether the territory will be with India or Pakistan. So, China knows that its legal case is very weak,” the EAM said.
“Ultimately the world does not always go according to the laws. If it did it would have been good. So sometimes people occupy land, and how to resolve the issue, as people erect somethings of their own on the land… so I feel that we should keep our position very strong,” he added.
To a question on Pakistan and its current state, the EAM said:
“But regarding Pakistan, they have a lot of other problems; Balochistan is having problems, and it is there in other part of Pakistan too.
“They are having very severe economic problems too right now. But whether they do the right reforms, and whether they take the right policies, because this policy of continuously going against India, today that is what has brought Pakistan down to where it is come. We’ll have to see whether there is any change in thinking there.”
To another question, he said there are no red lines as far as PoK is concerned.
“I don’t believe that there is a Lakshman Rekha as far as PoK is concerned,” to loud applause.
“PoK is part of Bharat, and there was a time when due to someone’s weakness and mistake it went out of our hands temporarily,” he said, and repeated “temporarily” with emphasis, to loud whistles and clapping.
He also referred to the parliamentary resolution on taking back PoK.
Jaishankar also said that 10 years ago people in India were not talking of PoK.
“This has changed as five years ago we ended 370,” referring to the scrapping of Article 370 from Kashmir. “The people of Bharat have the confidence that if we have chosen such a government that has the courage to scrap 370, so the government will have the courage to complete what is still left half done,” with reference to taking back PoK, to loud applause.
His comments came as Union Home Minister Amit Shah, addressing poll rallies in Bihar, asserted that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) belongs to India and the country will take it back “at any cost”.
