People of Pakistan will return to ancestral roots in India: RSS affiliate chief urges 'window to be kept open'

Satyendra Singh, president of Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram advocated on Friday for keeping a window open for the day Pakistan would realise its history and return to its "ancestral roots and traditions" in India.

While giving an interview to PTI, Singh said that though Pakistan was carved out of India and made a separate country after Independence, people living there still have their roots in India.

"Sooner or later, the Muslim country will reflect upon its history and realise. And once they turn their attention to their history, they will inevitably return to their ancestral traditions," the chief of Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, an RSS affiliate, said.

Singh also backed RSS general secretary Dattareya Hosabale's remarks that people-to-people contact is key to breaking the deadlock with Pakistan and there should always be a window for this as there is no trust left in the political and military leadership of the neighbouring country.

"Now, if we wish to facilitate this return to their origins, we must surely keep a window open," he added.

He was asked about Hosabale's comments, which he had made during a recent interview with PTI.

"Dattatreya-ji is entirely correct in what he says. This is because the territory of Pakistan is, in essence, a part of our territory. In the northern regions of Pakistan, specifically in the hilly terrain, people belonging to various tribal communities reside," Singh said.

Over the course of time, everyone in Pakistan will gravitate back towards their roots, he added.

"Whether today or tomorrow, everyone will eventually find their way back to their own traditions. If we were to shut the door completely, wouldn't that result in a permanent severance?" the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram chief added.

Batting for people-to-people connect between India and Pakistan, Hosabale had said, "This is the one hope I think, because I believe strongly that ultimately civil society relations (will work). Because we have a cultural relation and we have been one nation." Hosabale also asserted that the security and self-respect of a country have to be protected and the government of the day should take care of it.

But at the same time, India should not to close the doors but should always be ready to engage them in a dialogue, he added.

"See, everything has been tried (diplomatically) and Pakistan keeps making pinpricks," he said, citing terrorist attacks such as 26/11, Pulwama and Pahalgam.

(with PTI inputs)