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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday slammed Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq for his remarks against India, and said that Jammu and Kashmir is incomplete without PoK.
"Jammu and Kashmir is incomplete without PoK. PoK is nothing more than a foreign territory for Pakistan... PoK's land is being used to run the business of terrorism. Terrorist training camps are being run in PoK... Pakistan will have to destroy them otherwise," news agency ANI quoted the minister while addressing the ninth armed forces veterans’ day rally at the Tanda Artillery brigade in Akhnoor sector.
Rajnath Singh attacked the previous Congress governments for not turning the tactical advantage that it won after the 1965 war into a strategic advantage. "The war between India and Pakistan was fought in Akhnoor in 1965. India succeeded in thwarting the efforts of the Pakistani army. . Pakistan has been promoting illegal infiltration and terrorism since 1965,” he said.
He lauded Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his efforts to reduce the distance between hearts of people of J-K and Delhi, and asserted that the BJP government treats Delhi and Kashmir equally.
“Kashmir was treated differently (by previous governments) in the past as a result our brothers and sisters in the region could not get connected with Delhi as it should have been. I do not want to go into the past as our government’s biggest achievement is that we have been working to bridge ‘dil ki duri’ (distance between hearts) between Kashmir and the rest of the country.
“I congratulate Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for taking the right steps to help overcome the little bit of gap (which is still there),” the defence minister said.
He also extended Makar Sankranti and New Year greetings to the veterans, and said their presence in Akhnoor demonstrates that “we are treating Akhnoor or for that matter Kashmir the same way as Delhi in our hearts.” (With PTI)