JAMMU: Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said today that India stands committed to retrieve Pak occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) and that is the only issue outstanding between India and Pakistan. There is no such issue as Kashmir issue and Jammu & Kashmir is as similar and as much a part of India as any other State or Union Territory, he said.Addressing a series of public meetings during District Development Council (DDC) election campaign along the International Border (IB) in Khour, Pargwal and other areas in district Jammu, Dr. Jitendra Singh was responding to a suggestion by certain Gupkar leaders that India should initiate talks with Pakistan. He referred to the unanimous resolution of Parliament passed in 1994 wherein it was unanimously accepted by all parties that Pakistan has to vacate the areas of the Indian State of Jammu & Kashmir which continue to remain under its illegal occupation even after so many years and that is the only issue between India and Pakistan.Dr Jitendra Singh said, PDP, National Conference and Congress have been consistently represented in the Indian Parliament and even today they have sitting MPs in the Parliament, which implies that these parties are also part of this unanimous resolution but simply for opportunistic political interests, such demands are being made when the District Development Council election campaign is going on in the Kashmir valley.While addressing a public meeting just about 3 to 4 kilometers away from the border, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it possible to take decisions like abrogation of Article 370 and holding of DDC elections which were considered impossible, similarly this task of retrieving PoJK will also be accomplished by the Modi government. He said, people of PoJK have been for a long time deprived of the benefits of democracy and it is our commitment to them that we have to make them a beneficiary of India’s democratic system with grassroot empowerment.It is during the Modi government, said Dr. Jitendra Singh, that two years back 4% reservation was provided to the residents of IB on the same lines as to those living along LoC . He accused the earlier governments of playing vote bank politics and having given reservation to LoC areas because they were getting their MLAs and Ministers elected from those areas but denied the same benefit to the children living in the adjacent part of the border simply because this did not constitute their vote bank. The Modi government has corrected this inhuman injustice to the youth of this area, he said.Referring to development, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the work of construction of bunkers, roads bridges which had been pending for last seven decades in the border areas has been taken up only in the last 5 to 6 years. He said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself takes personal interest in the welfare of the people living here and that is why innovative initiatives like construction of bunkers and insurance for cattle etc., have been introduced.
