Pakistan-occupied Kashmir will be part of India one day, says top IAF commander

By Anish Kumar | First Published Oct 27, 2021, 4:05 PM IST

If the United Nations had not intervened, the entire Kashmir would have been in India, said IAF Western Air Commander Air Marshal Amit Dev.

Indian Air Force Western Air Commander Air Marshal Amit Dev on Wednesday said the Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir will join India in the years to come. This is the first time that any Indian military commander had said that the PoK will be integrated within India.

Air Marshal Dev was speaking on the occasion of 75 years of landing at Budgam in Jammu and Kashmir, wherein Pakistani intruders were pushed back from where they had come in. "It was not only the Indian Air Force or Indian Army's participation in Budgam but many small missions that resulted in ensuring a free Kashmir. I am sure that someday, PoK will join this part of Kashmir," the IAF officer said, adding that if the United Nations had not intervened, the entire Kashmir would have been in India.

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In 2019, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had stated in Parliament that he will sacrifice his life to get PoK and Aksai Chin assimilated in the Indian mainland. He made this statement while announcing the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A from Jammu & Kashmir.

Soon after Air Marshal Dev's remark hit social media, a spooked Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Pakistan will leave no stone unturned for its so-called 'cause of Kashmiris'. In a tweet, Qureshi said, "The illegal Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir continues to strangle legitimate aspiration of people of Kashmir to determine their own destiny. Pakistan will leave no stone unturned as we stand by our Kashmiri brothers and sisters in their just right to self-determination."

India celebrates 75 years of Infantry Day across all military establishments. It is on this day in 1947 the Sikh Regiment landed at Srinagar airfield to save Kashmir from the Pakistani intruders. Since then, October 27 is being celebrated as Infantry Day every year. Marking the occasion, Air Marshal Dev recollected the siege of Poonch. "People who had migrated from Pakistan built an airstrip in Poonch in just seven days and without much mechanical support. That resulted in the Air Force landing in Poonch and saving the entire area which is now the other side of Banihal and Pir Panjal," he said.

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