PM clarified vacation of PoK by Pakistan only issue to be discussed: Dr Jitendra
Jammu May 13: Union Minister of State in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh Tuesday said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in unambiguous manner clarified that the talks with Pakistan, if happened, would only pertain to the outstanding matter i.e., the vacation of illegally occupied Indian territory (PoK) by it (Pakistan).
“That is the stated position of the Government of India, which has been clearly reiterated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi again. This is the unambiguous stance of our Bharatiya Janata Party as well. Only agenda of bilateral talks with Pakistan, if it happened, would be its (Pakistan’s) vacation of the Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Our only agenda is to take back PoJK and integrate it with India,” he said, while responding to media queries in Hiranagar about the possibility of dialogue with Pakistan.
He was on a day-long tour of the areas along the International Border (IB) in Kathua district. The Union Minister also announced additional 600 family Bunkers besides the existing over 2,000 and an automated centralised siren system for border areas. Interacting with the media, he said that Kathua was the first in the country to experiment with family bunkers in border areas, when the issue was taken up by him (Dr Jitendra) as Member of Parliament soon after Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister.
“As a result, over 2,000 family bunkers have been built for the people living along the border areas in the last 6 to 7 years. The utility of these bunkers was realised during the recent Operation Sindoor. The people living in the border areas, despite giving the choice to move to alternate safer places, chose to shift into these bunkers instead of moving to any distant shelters as they found these bunkers more comfortable and also secure. Each of these bunkers is virtually like a small living apartment with all the amenities in place,” he stated.
He stated that during his interaction with the border residents, the latter demanded for the construction of more such bunkers. The Union Minister said he consulted the administration and immediately issued directions for construction of 600 additional family bunkers immediately and later on, if required, construction of more similar bunkers.
“In response to another demand that quite often the information regarding the blackouts was obtained through social media because the siren was not audible enough, I issued directions that modern technology should be used instead of manually operated sirens. For this purpose, an automated centralised siren system will be installed which will be controlled from the district headquarter and whenever required, it will start operating spontaneously and Siren will be blown out through local outlets at each of the border villages,” the Union Minister said. He said all this was possible because the border villages which had remained totally neglected over the years, were given highest priority by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“It was during the last 10 years that a high quality road network was created up to the zero line of the International Border, where there were no roads before 2014. Similarly, there were no mobile towers in the border villages and the same have also been installed only in the last 7 to 8 years as a level playing field,” he said, adding, “So that the children and professionals do not suffer disadvantage due to lack of internet or connectivity.” Dr Jitendra appreciated the coordinated and joint effort put in by the district administration and civil society in meeting the challenges posed in the face of drone attacks by Pakistan.
He said this was truly an example of the whole of government plus whole of society approach. Dr Jitendra noted one important highlight of the one week of turmoil in the region was that it gave us an opportunity to vindicate that whatever was done in the last few years was for the benefit of the nation and the people, which included construction of roads and mobile connectivity along the border areas.
Similarly, the Union Minister said, in the age of technology warfare, Operation Sindoor was also an opportunity for India to prove to the world the kind of superior technology prowess she had acquired in the last one decade. He said, “All the equipment including UAS (Unmanned Aerospace System) also referred to as S-400, has been set up only in the last 10 years after Prime Minister Modi came. Not only this, it is also a vindication of the mantra of Aatmnirbhar Bharat, which Modi gave soon after becoming Prime Minister, because each of the equipment used during these challenging few days was totally indigenously developed.”
During his visit, Dr Jitendra held a series of meetings, including with the district administration led by Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Minhas, with public representatives including MLAs and DDC members, following which he held an open interaction with the border dwellers. In addition, the Union Minister informed that soon after the Operation Sindoor was launched, district Kathua was provided with 39 medical ambulances considering the vulnerability of the border dwellers. In addition, two more Critical Care Ambulances were made available in Government Medical College, Kathua, he said.
He said while Operation Sindoor raised the morale of the border dwellers to the new height and gave them the confidence that they were totally protected and safe in the technology rich India of Modi, at the same time, the world also saw a trailer of India’s incredibly rising capacities and prowess.
