Residents of PoK would love to Join India: Muslim cleric

The chairman of Anjuman Minhaj-e- Rasool, an Islamic organisation working for peace and communal harmony, today said that if given a chance the residents of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) would love to join the Union of India.

"If a plebiscite is held in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, more than 99 per cent people there would vote to become a part of the Union of India," Anjuman Minhaj-e-Rasool chairman Maulana Syed Athar Dehlavi told reporters here.

Dehlavi, who was in Jammu after a five-day visit to flood affected areas of Jammu and Kashmir, said the separatists in Kashmir has lost their grounds and the people in the Valley are talking about good governance and development.

"The separatists in Kashmir have lost their ground and the people in the Valley are discussing issues like good governance, development and education. They are not bothered about what a handful of people are saying," Dehlavi said.

Dehlavi said during his visit to Kashmir he found that the flood-affected people were all praise for the relief and rescue operations launched by the army.

"The people are praising the army as their savior. The army has done a wonderful job in Kashmir. The people in Kashmir have now realised that the army is their real savior," he said.

Dehlavi also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "people friendly" policies in Jammu and Kashmir and the country.

He said his Anjuman Minhaj-e-Rasool was the only Islamic organisation that raised voice against Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

"When Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave Kashmir we raised objection in the OIC in Jeddah and we were the one to condemn Osama Bin Laden and now we are strongly condemning Islamic State," Dehlavi said.