PoK is part of Pakistan and it will remain so. Jammu and Kashmir is part of India and it will remain so. You need to understand this. Only thing is that India and Pakistan should talk and find the solution, said Farooq in Jammu.
A major political storm has hit the strife-torn Jammu and Kashmir after the former chief minister Farooq Abdullah said Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) is and will continue to remain the part of Pakistan.
"PoK is part of Pakistan and it will remain so. Jammu and Kashmir is part of India and it will remain so. You need to understand this. Only thing is that India and Pakistan should talk and find the solution," said Farooq in Jammu.
Farooq, a three time chief minister and former union minister, noted that former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had told the then Pakistani president Parvez Musharaf to retain PoK while they would keep Jammu and Kashmir.
"How long have we been saying that PoK is part of India? Have we ever taken it back? I know when Vajpayee went to Lahore he told me that he asked Musharaf that they should keep PoK and we will retain Jammu and Kashmir which they (Pakistani) refused…Today they are ready, and India should talk," he said.
Farooq's remarks has stoked a major political row with Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh terming it unconstitutional and against the spirit of resolution passed by the parliament in 1994.
"Parliament passed a unanimous resolution in 1994 saying that if there is any outstanding issue with Pakistan it is Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). It has been illegally occupied by Pakistan. Not only we have claim on PoJK but constitutionally it is our integral part and we should get it back. If someone is making such remarks it is unconstitutional and puts a question mark on Jammu and Kashmir which the country will not accept," said Singh.
Ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) too has joined the chorus terming Farooq statement as "hypocrisy". "When he (Farooq) was a chief minister it (PoK) was part of India and when he is out of power it is not part of India.
They are responsible for the mess. PoK could have been part of Jammu and Kashmir had Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah acted timely," said Waheed-ur-Rehman Para, PDP spokesman and political analyst to chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
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