'Ready For Talks If…’: In J&K, Rajnath Asks Pakistan To Stop Terrorism, Invites PoK Residents To Join India

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said India is ready to start dialogue with Pakistan if it stops terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while addressing a rally in pollbound Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district, said that India remains ready to start dialogue with Pakistan if it stops sponsoring terror in the Valley.

“Pakistan (should) do one thing that is stop taking (the) support of terrorism. Who would not like to improve relations with neighbouring countries? Because I know the reality that you can change a friend but not your neighbour. We want improved relations with Pakistan but first of all they should stop terrorism,” Singh told a well-attended gathering here.

Singh was campaigning for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Mohd Saleem Bhat. The defence minister said Article 370 of the Constitution that granted special status to J-K was revoked to end the misery of the people and make the region prosperous.

He said when Pakistan stops sponsoring terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, India will start dialogue with them. He also said that many Kashmiri Muslims lost their lives due to terrorism in the valley.

“Among those who fell to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, 85 percent were Muslims. Terror incidents used to be a routine affair in Kashmir. Were Hindus being killed in the terror acts? I have been a home minister and I know the highest number of Muslims lost their lives in the incidents of terror,” Singh said.

Rajnath Invites PoK Residents To Join India

Rajnath Singh also said that residents of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) are India’s ‘own’ and said that Pakistan treats them as ‘foreigners’.

“I want to tell PoK residents that Pakistan considers you foreigners, but the people in India do not consider you so. We consider you our own and so come and join us,” he said.

“Support the BJP to form the next government in J-K so that we can facilitate massive development in the region. There will be so much development that the people in PoK on seeing this should say that we do not want to live with Pakistan and instead will go to India,” the defence minister said, while addressing an election rally in the Ramban assembly constituency in support of BJP candidate Rakesh Singh Thakur.

He asserted there is a sea change in the overall security situation in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.

He said that recently an affidavit was filed by Pakistan’s additional solicitor general in the neighbouring country stating that PoK is a foreign land.