PM Modi's statement on PoK squarely puts Islamabad on mat: Security Expert

Modi said time has come to expose Pakistan's brutalities on people of Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir

Welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's strong assertion at the all-party meeting on the atrocities being carried out on the people of Balochistan and Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK) by Pakistan, security expert Ajay Sahni on Saturday said the statement squarely puts Islamabad on the mat.

Speaking to ANI, Sahni said the statement coming from the Prime Minister itself, is important, both for international discourse and domestic discourse.

"It is for the first time at this level that we have had a very clear statement on what is essentially the Indian Constitutional position and essentially the position that should have been articulated by the Indian State, even in view of the UN Council Resolution," he said.

"It is very important that the Prime Minister has chosen himself to put up a statement and I think it will have two crucial consequences- one, it will result in a better informed national-international community because the world has always accepted the Pakistani position that has always been very aggressively articulated," he added.

The security expert insisted that the Indian position has never been correctly articulated by successive governments.

"The second thing is even within Kashmir, people are not adequately aware of the actual history and the actual legal and constitutional position of Pakistan held Kashmir. Consequently, I think the statement is important, both for international discourse and domestic discourse on the subject and it very squarely puts Pakistan on the mat which is important because it has never been done before," he said.

"The time has come to expose Pakistan's brutalities on the people of Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)," said Prime Minister Modi said on Friday as the government launched a fresh offensive against Islamabad for igniting the latest unrest in Kashmir.

"When we talk about Jammu and Kashmir, then we should talk about four regions - Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)," he said.

Addressing the media after the all-party meeting, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, "I have assured all the political parties that every suggestion, which they have put forward to bring normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir would be taken into consideration."

Singh quoted the Prime Minister as saying that the time has come for Pakistan to answer the world on atrocities against the people in Balochistan and the PoK.

During the four-hour-long meeting, which comes in the wake of continued unrest in Kashmir after the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani on July 8, some of the opposition parties also asked the government to take a few immediate confidence-building measures like putting an end to the use of pellet guns and relaxing AFSPA in some parts of the valley.

Kashmir has been on the boil for more than a month with thousands injured and more than 50 killed during protests against Wani's killing.