NEW DELHI: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Thursday said the Indian Army was ready for action to retrieve Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). Replying to a question if the forces were prepared for action in POK, he said the army was always ready. The decision in this regard had to be taken by the government, he added.
“The government takes decisions in such matters. The other institutions of the country will work as per the orders of the government. The Army is always prepared for every kind of action,” General Rawat said.
After the scrapping of Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, there have been several statements from various Union ministers that the Modi government’s next agenda was freeing POK from the neighbouring country’s illegal occupation.
On Tuesday, Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh, reiterated the “commitment” in this regard. “It is not only my or my party’s commitment, but has been a resolve of Parliament which unanimously adopted a resolution in 1994 during the then Congress government headed by P V Narasimha Rao, saying that Kashmir is an integral part of India and the only thing left to be resolved with Pakistan was Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir… This is an accepted position,” he said.
He was speaking at a programme held to showcase the government’s achievements in the first 100 days.
Earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said any talks with Pakistan in future would be on POK.
‘Pak bid to politicise Kashmir has failed’
India on Thursday said Pakistan’s attempt to polarise and politicise the Kashmir issue at the UNHRC has been rejected. It also said Pakistan needs to understand that “repeating a lie four or five times does not turn it into a gospel truth”. The global community is aware about Pakistan’s role in aiding, abetting and supporting terrorist infrastructure, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
Qureshi warns of ‘accidental war’
Pakistan’s foreign minister warned that the situation in Kashmir risked sparking an “accidental war”, and urged UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet to visit the region. Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the UNHRC meeting in Geneva, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that with tensions soaring, “you can’t rule out an accidental war”. “If the situation persists... then anything is possible.”