'India won't have to capture PoK by force; its people will themselves demand merger': Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said that India won't have to capture Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK) with force because its people, on their own, would want to be part of India after seeing the development in Kashmir. He said New Delhi will never give up its claim on the PoK.

"I think India will not have to do anything. The way the ground situation has changed in Jammu and Kashmir, the way the region is witnessing economic progress and the way peace has returned there, I think demands will emerge from people of PoK that they should merge with India," he said in an interview to news agency PTI.

"We will not have to use force to take PoK as people would say that we must be merged with India. Such demands are now coming," he said, adding that: "PoK was, is, and will remain ours". 

The defence minister highlighted improvement in the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir and said that a time will come when AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) will no longer be required there. "It is my view and it is for the Home Ministry to decide on it," he said. 

The AFSPA empowers security forces to conduct operations and arrest anyone without any prior warrant. It also gives immunity to the forces if they shoot someone dead. 

The defence minister also spoke about Pakistan's proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir and said Islamabad must stop cross-border terrorism. "They are trying to destabilise India and we will not allow it to happen," he said. 

The ties between India and Pakistan plunged after India carried out strikes at a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Balakot in Pakistan in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack. The relations further deteriorated after India revoked the special powers of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. 

India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment free of terror and hostility for such an engagement.