Army Chief Bipin Rawat: PoK is illegally occupied by Pakistan, controlled by terrorists

#WATCH Delhi: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat says, “…The territory which has been illegally occupied by Pakistan is not controlled by the Pakistani establishment, it is controlled by terrorists. PoK is actually a terrorist controlled part of Pakistan.” pic.twitter.com/jS8lGVddJw

— ANI (@ANI) October 25, 2019

Rawat also said that PoK and Gilgit Baltistan were illegally occupied by Pakistan, whom the Army Chief accused of attempting to disrupt normalcy in Kashmir.

“When we say Jammu & Kashmir, the complete state of Jammu & Kashmir includes PoK and Gilgit Baltistan. Therefore, PoK and Gilgit Baltistan become an occupied territory – a territory that has been illegally occupied by our western neighbour,” Bipin Rawat said.

In recent months, India has ramped up its posturing on PoK. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has “we expect one day we will have physical jurisdiction” over Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Last month, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said any talks with Pakistan, if they are held, would be over PoK and not J&K

“If we accept the existence of Pakistan, it shouldn’t be assumed that we also accept the existence of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Hum uskey wajood ko sweekar nahi kartey (We don’t accept its existence), because Pakistan has forcefully occupied it,” the Defence Minister had said.

Even BJP leader Jitendra Singh had indicated that after diluting Article 370, that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the next agenda on BJP’s list was to get back the illegally occupied PoK.

“It is not only my or my party’s commitment, but it 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,” Singh had said.