JK News Today’s Special Commentary
Pakistan occupied Kashmir is part of India , therefore there is no question of Hindus and Muslims . All Muslims and Hindus of the ( ( PoK) are ours.” Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted with an added emphasis while answering questions at a conclave of India Today on the virtues of Citizenship ( Amendment) Act or CAA .
The questioner who sought clarification on the status the residents of Pakistan occupied Kashmir , the Muslim majority part across the Line of Control that divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan , Amit Shah reiterated that PoK is part of India and all its residents are our – Muslims as well as Hindus.. The anchor, in his excitement jumped from his seat cheering what he called was a “ big statement,” to which he was snubbed by Home Minister who said : “ I am not saying it for the first time . I have stated the same thing in the Parliament.”
This statement served a reminder to Pakistan and the doubters within the Indian nation about the status of PoK-nothing more or less than the fact that the territory across the LoC is under the illegal occupation of Pakistan , and India has not given up its claim on it . It also denoted very clearly that alongside the territory , the people living over there, no matter that a cast majority of them were Muslim and all of them belonged to India .
While the conversation was on the CAA and why India had chosen to get only the minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and grant them citizenship , and not to the Muslims, the Home Minister explained in detail , why it is so. He stated “ since all these three countries were proclaimed Islamic countries , so Muslims faced no threat of religious conversion in these countries..” But with regard to PoK residents , he articulated a well-established historical reality, with an assertion that Muslims and Hindus living there were Indians- the CAA rules did not apply to them .
There was a wider messaging, in particular , it served as a resounding rebuff to the newly elected Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who , in his opening speech in the National Assembly had called for passing a resolution for “ liberation of Kashmiris and Palestinians.” Home Minister told Pakistan P M and the establishment that they should stop worrying about Jammu and Kashmir is settled , and if liberation was needed that was for PoK residents, and that’s to what India is committed to, because it belongs to India .
And it has negated all the international criticism of the CAA , particularly by Pakistan. As it is its habit , Pakistan raised unfounded objections to the CAA implementation . Pakistan’s foreign office had said that the “ regulations and laws ( of the CAA) were premised on a false presumption that minorities are being persecuted in Muslim countries of the region and the façade of India being a safe haven for them.” Shah , by taking ownership of the people of PoJK , including Gilgit -Baltistan has rendered Pakistan’s opposition to dist. He did cite data to prove that Hindus in Pakistan have shrunk from 23 per cent at the time of Partition in 1947 to 2.7 percent . Where have these Hindus gone , the answer lies in Pakistan forcing them to convert to Islam or persecuting them to annihilation . This was India’s commitment mad seven decades ago, and now that is being fulfilled .
Amit Shah has laid out final geo-strategic map and in this the communal harmony sits on the top.
