Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh while addressing a poll rally in Ramban on Sunday asked the residents of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK) to come and join India as “we consider you our own unlike Pakistan which treats you as foreigners”.
“We are committed to the development of J&K and will make such a Kashmir that even people from PoK will say that they want to be part of India,” Rajnath Singh said while addressing an election at Ramban in favour of BJP candidate Rakesh Singh Thakur.
“There will be so much development that people in PoK on seeing development here should say that we do not want to live with Pakistan and instead will live in India,” the defence minister said.
He said the recently an affidavit was filed by Pakistan’s additional solicitor general in the neighboring country stating that PoK is a foreign land.
“I want to tell PoK residents that Pakistan considers you foreigners, but the people in India do not consider you so. “We consider you our own and so come and join us”.
He came down heavily on the National Conference-Congress alliance over its poll promise of restoring Article 370 and said it is impossible as long as the BJP is there.
“The sea change witnessed in the overall security situation in J&K since August 2019 means that youths now carry laptops and computers in their hands instead of pistols and revolvers. Now, nobody dares to fire bullets at people in Srinagar,” he said.
The defence minister said the assembly polls are taking place in J&K after 10 years and not only the people of the country but outside are also watching it. “I firmly believe that the BJP will form the next government with a clear majority.”
Singh said when he was the Home Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti was the chief minister in J&K, his only concern was to bring the security situation in J&K to normal.
“I led a parliamentary delegation to meet Hurriyat Conference as we were ready for talks with them for restoration of peace. Sharad Yadav along with others went to meet the Hurriyat leaders but they shut their doors. People were demanding withdrawal of cases against innocent and minor children and I talked to Mehbooba and asked her to release them. We did everything but the way they (Hurriyat leaders) should have responded, the did not,” he said.
In 2016, a delegation comprising CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D Raja, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav and RJD’s Jay Prakash Narayan had gone to meet hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani at his Srinagar residence where he was under house arrest. However, Geelani snubbed the delegation and did not even open the doors.
Targeting PDP and NC, the defence minister said they used to say that the revoking of Article 370 will engulf the region into a devastating fire. “We did it boldly and nothing had happened”.
“After independence, the rights of women and weaker sections including Pakistani refugees, sweepers were denied. But we ensured justice for them and they are going to vote in this election. We also provided political reservation to Scheduled Tribes,” he said.
Singh said a G20 event happened in Srinagar last year, projecting Kashmir as a “tourism hotspot instead of terrorism hotspot” as the government focused on road and rail connectivity and infrastructure building.
“The government under the leadership of Modi has decided to call the border villages as first villages of the country rather than last villages and we will ensure their fast development,” he said, adding the border-fencing project will be completed to block infiltration.
Highlighting various guarantees included in BJP manifesto, he said the party wants safe return and rehabilitation of Kashmir migrant pandits and turning J&K into a modern state of the country.
The Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said India is ready to start dialogue with Pakistan if it stops terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Who would not like to improve relations with neighbouring countries? Because I know the reality that you can change a friend but not your neighbour. We want improved relations with Pakistan but first of all they should stop terrorism,” Singh told a well-attended gathering here.
The defence minister said when Pakistan stops sponsoring terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, India will start dialogue with them.
“Among those who fell to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, 85 percent were Muslims. Terror incidents used to be a routine affair in Kashmir. Were Hindus being killed in the terror acts? I have been a home minister and I know the highest number of Muslims lost their lives in the incidents of terror,” Singh said.
Criticising Omar Abdullah’s comment on the execution of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, he asked whether the separatist leader should have been garlanded publicly.
“I heard Omar saying that Afzal Guru should not have been hanged. I want to ask him that Afzal Guru should not have been hanged; should he have been garlanded publicly? And these people claim that they will restore article 370,” Singh added.