Rajnath Singh said overall development in the two Union Territories Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh will be achieved “after reaching Gilgit and Baltistan” – parts of PoK.
Srinagar,UPDATED: 27 Oct 2022 17:10 IST
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said the sacrifices of our armed forces have ensured that Kashmir remains an integral part of India (File photo)
By Akshay DongareDefense Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday, October 27 that Pakistan has stabbed India in the back and is committing “atrocities” against the people in the parts of Kashmir it had occupied. He warned that Pakistan will have to bear the consequences of his actions and hinted that parts of Pakistani-occupied Kashmir (PoK) would be recovered.
He spoke on the occasion of Shaurya Diwas – a reenactment of the Indian Air Force landing in Srinagar on this day in 1947. He said that the overall development in the two Union Territories Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh will be achieved “after reaching of Gilgit and Baltistan” – parts of PoK.
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“We have just started our development journey in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. We will reach our goal when we reach Gilgit and Baltistan. It is because of the sacrifices of our armed forces that Kashmir is an integral part of India,” said Singh.
“We feel the pain of Kashmiris in PoK. We have started developing Kashmir and we will not stop until we reach Gilgit and Baltistan,” he said.
He said Pakistan was injecting Lashkar terrorists into India in the name of Kashmiriyat. “Terrorism has no religion and the sole purpose of terrorists is to target India,” Rajnath Singh said on Thursday.
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Speaking about the repeal of Article 370, Singh said the Center’s decision played an important role in ending discrimination against the people of Jammu & Kashmir. “The discrimination against the people of Jammu and Kashmir was ended on August 5, 2019 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when Article 370 was deleted,” he said.
The army received ‘Shaurya Diwas’ at the old airport of Srinagar (Budgam airport) on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the 1 Sikh Regiment in 1947 to protect Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistani forces. It was Independent India’s first military operation, a move that changed the course of the 1947-48 war.
(With input from PTI.)