PoK was, is and will remain part of India: Rajnath Singh at Kargil Vijay Diwas event

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Kargil Vijay Diwas: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) was always and will remain part of India, while addressing an event in Jammu to mark Kargil Vijay Diwas.

"A resolution was passed in the Parliament of India on Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Pak Occupied Kashmir was a part of India, is and will remain a part of India. How can it be that Baba Amarnath in the form of Lord Shiva is with us and Mother Sharda Shakti is across the LoC," he said at the event.

Rajnath Singh said that those criticising the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru must remember not to question either his intention or integrity.

In his address at an event to commemorate the 'Kargil Vijay Diwas', he said that there are a lot of people who criticise Nehru and that "I also belong to a political party... I do not want to criticise any Prime Minister of the country".

"I also do not question the intention and integrity of any Prime Minister. There was no failure in their intention," he said, in a reference to the 1962 India-China war.

"We indeed faced defeat in 1962, but India is no longer that same nation. India is one of the strongest nations now. I don't target the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru for the 1962 debacle. I criticise the policies India adopted then," he asserted.

He said today India is self-sufficient in the field of defence.

"India speaks today and the World listens. India is no longer weak. We can criticise anyone's policies, but we cannot afford to cast a doubt on anyone's intention," he said.

(With inputs from IANS)

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