Amit Shah in Lok Sabha: PoK, Aksai Chin part of Jammu and Kashmir

Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday asserted in Lok Sabha that Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Aksai Chin are part of Jammu and Kashmir and that Kashmir Valley is an integral part of the country.

Moving a resolution for abrogating some provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019, Shah said there has been a long-standing demand for giving Union Territory status to Ladakh which was fulfilled by the Narendra Modi government. "Kashmir is an integral part of India, there is no doubt over it. When I talk about Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Aksai Chin are included in it," he said.

Dismissing opposition's charge that introduction of the bill and the resolution were a violation of the rights of the people, Shah said nobody can stop him from introducing a resolution on Kashmir in Parliament. The home minister also said the UT of Jammu and Kashmir will have an assembly with a chief minister and MLAs.

The government on Monday revoked some provisions of the Article 370 to take away Jammu and Kashmir's special status, and proposed bifurcation of the state into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, a bold and far- reaching decision that seeks to redraw the map and future of a region at the centre of a protracted militancy movement.

Fulfilling an electoral promise of the BJP less than 90 days after the Modi 2.0 government took power, Shah had announced the decision in the Rajya Sabha, which approved both the resolution and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation bill.

-PTI