PoK is our own: Amit Shah in Lok Sabha

New Delhi, December 6

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is part of India and hence 24 seats have been kept reserved for the region in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly.

Shah said this while replying to a debate in the Lok Sabha on the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill.

The home minister said after the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir to redraw assembly and parliamentary constituencies, there will be 43 assembly seats in Jammu region — up from present 37 — and 47 in Kashmir Valley, up from 46.

“As many as 24 seats have been kept for PoK because the region is our own,” he said.

Shah also said that Kashmir had to suffer due to two major “Nehruvian blunders” — declaring a ceasefire without winning the entire Kashmir and taking the issue to the United Nations.

When India’s Army was winning and as soon as Punjab area was reached, the ceasefire was declared and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was born.

“If the ceasefire would have been (declared) three days later, PoK would have been part of India,” the home minister said.