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PoK belongs to India: Fernandes

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE June 7. Dismissing Pakistan's claims on Jammu and Kashmir as "irrelevant", the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, today said that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) belonged to India. He was reacting to Pakistan's recent claim that the whole of Jammu and Kashmir was a disputed territory and that its status was yet to be determined by the U.N.

Speaking to presspersons after addressing a Samata Party meeting here, Mr. Fernandes said the "whole of Jammu and Kashmir, including PoK, as shown in the map of India" was an integral part of the country.

Asked if India was open to accepting the Line of Control (LoC) as the border, Mr. Fernandes said there had been no discussion on it so far. However, he was hopeful that the recent exchange of diverse views between India and Pakistan on Kashmir would not derail the peace process or vitiate the atmosphere for talks "which would begin in a few days". "But we are not in a hurry. A lot of preparations are to be made for the talks on a host of sensitive issues."

Mr. Fernandes, who is also convenor of the National Democratic Alliance, said the speculation over change of leadership in the BJP was not on the agenda of the alliance. "As far as the NDA is concerned, Mr. Vajpayee is the leader."

On Mr. Vajpayee's recent statement that the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, would lead the BJP in the 2004 general elections, Mr. Fernandes said it was the Prime Minister's personal view. He even sought to pin the blame on the media for the confusion over the leadership issue.

Mr. Fernandes ruled out any realignment of the constituents of the NDA for the coming elections in five States. He denied any rift between him and the Minister for Railways, Nitish Kumar, and said the Samata party was as "cohesive as ever".

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