Amit Shah: PoK, Aksai Chin part of J&K

A day after the Modi government scrapped the special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that India would continue to claim Pak-occupied Kashmir and Aksai Chin.

Shah’s statement in the Lok Sabha came as Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury questioned the government on whether Kashmir was an internal issue or a bilateral one with Pakistan, triggering furore in the House and causing embarrassment to the Congress.

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When I say Jammu and Kashmir, it includes PoK. Both Indian and J&K Constitutions also say that the state is an integral part of India and this gives us the right to form laws for the state, which includes PoK and Aksai Chin,” Shah said.

The home minister’s assertions came even as the Lok Sabha put its seal of approval to bifurcate the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories – J&K and Ladakh.

The Lok Sabha also passed the J&K Reorganisation Bill, with 370 members voting in favour and 70 against.

In an hour-long response to the debate, the home minister said that India will continue to claim PoK and made it clear that the Modi government will not talk to the Hurriyat, but was ready to talk to the people of the Valley.

Shah also declared that the Centre did not intend to keep J&K as a Union Territory forever and would grant it complete statehood once the situation returns to normal.

Modi took to Twitter to hail Parliament nod to the J&K Reorganisation Bill as a “momentous occasion” in parliamentary democracy.