New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had on Tuesday said Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) was a part of India and New Delhi expects to have physical jurisdiction over it one day.
Speaking exclusively to ETV Bharat, former diplomat Achal Malhotra, who served in the Indian Foreign Services for more than three decades, said that he saw only two possibilities through which the territory could be integrated into India.
"If it has to happen in the next few days or months, it can only happen through military action. Now, the government has to take a call on it and wait for an opportune moment," he said.
Talking about the second possibility, Malhotra took the lead from the stand of the government, which wants to wait for the appropriate moment and focus on developmental work within the valley.
"If the government fulfils its promises, then each Kashmiri will truly and genuinely be integrated with India. Once it happens, then the people of PoK, where there is discontent against Pakistani authorities, might revolt. There can be a situation similar to East Pakistan," he said.
Pakistan Occupied Kashmir is the part of Jammu and Kashmir which was invaded by Pashtoon tribals of Pakistan in 1947 and is currently under Pakistani control. Currently, it is divided into two regions - Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.
Ignoring every UN resolution on Kashmir, Pakistan illegally handed over a part of PoK to China in 1963. The area is called as the ceded area of Trans Karakoram tract.
