New Delhi, May 14 (FN Representative) Even as massive anti-government protests continued to rock Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said today that PoK “has always been part of India and it will be part of India and it is the intention of the government to vacate the illegal occupation of PoK and integrate it with Bharat once again”. In remarks delivered at an event in Mumbai, the EAM said to a question on the current protests that are rocking Pakistan Occupied Kashmir where four people are reported to have been killed in police firing, that the Modi government has a very clear vision regarding PoK: “One of our major achievements was removal of Article 370 (from Kashmir); and the thought of the NDA government and PM Modi is how to integrate Kashmir with the rest of the nation, how to take forward the development of J&K. And on the opposite side you can see all those who wanted to continue with 370 and whose self-interests lay in doing that; so this has also been a clear choice before the nation. “You’re seeing some protests happening in PoK nowadays. We have a very clear vision on PoK. There is a parliament resolution, and the Modi government is firm on this; we are very clear on this that PoK is part of India, it is part of India, it was always part of India, it will be part of India. “And it is our intention that one day we will vacate the illegal occupation of PoK, and it will be part of Bharat once again.”
Answering another question in the same vein, he said that till Article 370 was abrogated from Jammu and Kashmir, there wasn’t much talk of taking back PoK in India.“… After the 1990s the issue went into a dormancy, so I would say today the fact that there is much sharper awareness, even in public opinion, about PoK is something that is very welcome. And for us, the initial goal was to first deal with the 370 issue. The country has seen after five years, how much of a difference there is in the ground situation in J&K as a result of it being fully integrated with the country. “That part is integrated, so watch part 2 of the series,” he said with a smile, to loud applause. The EAM’s comments came even as massive protests continued to rock PoK for the fourth day today, with reports of four civilians killed in firing by Pakistani forces in Muzaffarabad. Meanwhile, in videos circulated on social media, angry protesters could be seen taking down the Pakistani flag in PoK, and also daring the Pakistani forces to fire on the people. They claimed they would do a “repeat of 1971” if Pakistani forces continue to oppress the protestors, referring to the breaking away of erstwhile East Pakistan to what is now Bangladesh. One of the protesters is heard saying: “We want to declare that if the central (Pakistani) forces if they attack the march then we will do a repeat of 1971, when they went into Bengal and they had to lose their trousers; and this time we will take off their trousers,” referring to the surrender by 93,000 Pakistani soldiers to India in 1971 when their trousers were removed as part of the surrender, and are still in a museum in Dhaka.