PoK India’s, will have physical authority over it one day: EAM

‘No talks on Article 370 with Pak, only on terror’

JAMMU: India on Tuesday asserted that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is its territory and it expects to have "physical jurisdiction" over PoK one day even as it stated that revocation of Article 370 was a purely internal affair which it would not discuss with Pakistan.
Virtually ruling out talks with Pakistan on Kashmir, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, addressing his first press conference on completion of 100 days of the Modi 2.0 government, minced no words in stating that the only issue India would discuss with Pakistan would be of cross-border terrorism.
Stating that there is no need to "worry" too much beyond a point about what people will say on Kashmir, Jaishankar said that India’s position on Kashmir and Article 370 has "prevailed and will prevail",
He also hit out at Pakistan, saying India has a "unique challenge" from one neighbour and it would remain a challenge until that neighbour becomes a normal neighbour and acts against cross-border terrorism.
To a question on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in the backdrop of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah, among others stating that the only talks with Islamabad would now be on PoK, Jaishankar said: "Yes, our position on PoK is, has been, and will always be very clear. PoK is part of India, and we expect one day that we will have physical jurisdiction over it."
He said the August 5 revocation of Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir was an internal issue, and did not concern Islamabad in any way.
"First of all 370 is not a bilateral issue, 370 is an internal issue. With regard to Pakistan, the issue is not 370, the issue with Pakistan is terrorism," he said.
"There is no change.. (on Pakistan policy) We must make the world realise (about Pakistan fomenting terrorism). Show me one country that openly conducts terrorism against its neighbour as part of what it considers its foreign policy... What should come on the table first of all is the terrorism issue. Because that is the root cause of this. There has to be a recognition," he said.
He also asserted that India's position on Kashmir has been clear since 1972 and it is not going to change. "Beyond a point, don't worry too much about what people will say on Kashmir. There is a complete predictability about our position... At the end of the day, it is our issue. On our issue, our position has prevailed and will prevail."
Amidst concerns expressed by some countries and the UN human rights organisation over situation in Kashmir, Jaishankar said international audience understands what were India's reasons for abrogating Article 370.
"It was a temporary provision which is not often used in the analysis of events...The provision had actually become dysfunctional. It was being arbitraged by some narrow set of people for their own gains. By doing so they were impeding development and feeding a sense of separatism. The separatism was being utilised by Pakistan to carry out cross-border terrorism," he said.
He said that most of the world understood this logic.
"The international community understands by and large what our objectives are. This (Article 370) was a temporary provision. I don't see this in any analysis... When I meet foreign leaders, I give a history of this temporary provision. Since it was temporary, it had to end at some point of time," he said, while responding to a question whether India's image had been affected due to developments in Jammu and Kashmir.
To a question on talking with Pakistan, with the Pakistani establishment stating that it has offered dialogue to India but to no avail, he said: "Part of the problem is that Pakistan is only doing talking. It has not been doing anything other than this.
"They think that nice words are an answer to the real problem, and the real problem is the dismantling of this industry (cross border terror) that they have created.
"The question is not whether what can you talk about.. it's not an India issue. Show me a country in the world that can accept that it's neighbour can conduct terrorism and then it will go and talk to them.
"Our position is completely normal, rational. They are the set of people whose behaviour is an aberration," he said.
Attacking Pakistan on its human rights track record, he said, "here is a country where minority numbers have gone down so much, I think they have even stopped putting the numbers in public domain. If there is an objective human rights audit of this region, I am pretty confident about which country will come the last."
There is a growing understanding in the world (about Pakistan) and there is not a single country in the world that would say that cross-border terrorism is not happening, he added.
Asked about significance of US President Donald Trump attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi's event in Houston and what message it will convey to Pakistan, Jaishankar said, "...it is not just Pakistan whole world will be watching the Houston event and take lessons about what Indian-Americans have achieved...I think there are multiple messages there. Obviously it is for Pakistanis to read what they read into it and I would say the same applies to other people in the world as well."