Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday said that the media has blown his father Farooq Abdullah’s views on PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir) out of proportion, adding that there was nothing new in what the National Conference (NC) president said. “Dialogue is the only option”, he said.
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Replying to queries about the reported demand in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) of joining India, Abdullah said it will never happen and the countries will continue to hold the parts of the state under their respective control.
Talking about the tense relations between the hostile nations, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said that war was not the solution and called for a dialogue between the two Asian neighbours. “PoK is in Pakistan, and will remain”.
State Minister in India’s Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh said that the Indian government had made its stand clear on the matter and it was retrieving the other side of the divided state from the “illegal clutches” of Pakistan.
“For how many years we have been saying that it (PoK) is part of India”. War can’t solve anything. Jammu Kashmir has been divided between Pakistan and India since the end of the British colonial rule in 1947.
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According to reports, Abdullah’s statement provoked a strong reaction as union minister Jitender Singh, who said, “How can we forget that in 1994, there was a unanimous resolution passed in Parliament regarding how to deal with Pakistan’s claim on Kashmir?”
