Kharge asserts PoK integral part of India after Pak PM Imran Khan raises Kashmir issue
Mar 23, 2022
New Delhi [India], March 23 : Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday hit out at Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for raking up Kashmir issue in the meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), asserting that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) is an integral part of India.
Kharge said that Imran Khan is facing political challenges in Pakistan and he's resorting to raking up Kashmir to deflect attention.
"Imran Khan is facing political compulsions and he is chanting Kashmir-Kashmir. No one is going to listen to Imran Khan. He is talking about giving away India's land to someone else. India is not going to tolerate this," said Kharge.
"Pakistan Occupied Kashmir is an integral part of India and we won't let it go. Jammu and Kashmir is and will remain an integral part of India," the Congress leader further said.
Kharge's remark came in the backdrop of the Pakistan Prime Minister raking up the Kashmir issue at the OIC meeting in Islamabad.
In his keynote address at the inaugural session of the 48th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the 57-member body of Muslim countries, Khan said, "We have failed both the Palestinians and the people of Kashmir. I am sad to say that we have been able to make no impact at all. They don't take us seriously, we are a divided house and those powers know it."
With Opposition leaders moving a no-confidence motion against him, Khan, who is on shaky political grounds, in an attempt to deflect from the attention urged member countries of the OIC to present a united front to make a significant impact on Palestine and Kashmir.
At the OIC inaugural address, the Pakistan Prime Minister also raked up the issue of the abrogation of the special status to Kashmir. On August 5, 2019, the government of India had revoked the special Constitutional status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution and abrogated Article 35A.
Pakistan has repeatedly sought to raise the Kashmir issue at the OIC even while India's relations with several key players in West Asia and in the Islamic organisation, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Indonesia and Bangladesh, have seen marked improvements in recent years.
