Jammu, September 8: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday asked the residents of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to come and join India as "we consider you our own unlike Pakistan which treats you as foreigners". Addressing an election rally in the Ramban assembly constituency in support of BJP candidate Rakesh Singh Thakur, the Union minister asserted there is a sea change in the overall security situation in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.

The senior BJP leader came down heavily on the National Conference-Congress alliance over its poll promise of restoring Article 370 and said it is impossible as long as the BJP is there. He said the "sea change" witnessed in the overall security situation in J-K since August 2019 means that youths now carry laptops and computers in their hands instead of pistols and revolvers. Now, nobody dares to fire bullets at people in Srinagar, he said. Ready To Start Dialogue With Pakistan if It Stops Supporting Terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Says Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at Rally in Banihal.

"Support the BJP to form the next government in J-K so that we can facilitate massive development in the region. There will be so much development that the people in PoK on seeing this should say that we do not want to live with Pakistan and instead will go to India," the defence minister said. He said that recently an affidavit was filed by Pakistan's additional solicitor general in the neighboring country stating that PoK is a foreign land.

"I want to tell PoK residents that Pakistan considers you foreigners, but the people in India do not consider you so. We consider you our own and so come and join us," he said. The defence minister's visit as a BJP star campaigner comes a day after Home Minister Amit Shah's two-day tour during which he released the party's manifesto, held a series of meetings with senior party leaders and also addressed a party workers' rally.

In the Ramban constituency, the BJP's Thakur is up against the NC's Arjun Singh Raju and party's rebel Suraj Singh Parihar. The seat was last won by the BJP's Neelam Kumar Langeh who was denied a ticket by the party this time. Singh said the assembly polls are taking place in J&K after 10 years and not only the people of the country but outside are also watching it. "I firmly believe that the BJP will form the next government with a clear majority." Pakistan Calls Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir Residents Foreigners, We Call Them Our Citizens, Says Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

Praising the people of J&K as skilful, hardworking and dedicated, he said if the BJP comes to power, J-K will emerge as the number one and modern state in the country. "I am saying it on the performance of the central government after Narendra Modi took over as prime minister in 2014. India has moved to fourth (fifth) spot from the 11th in terms of economy." "There is a requirement for a skilful and strong-hearted person at the post of PM and chief minister for smooth functioning of the government. There used to be an atmosphere of terror in Kashmir before 2019…today no one can dare to open fire from a pistol or revolver. This is the result of a strong leader being in power," he said.

Singh said when he was the home minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti was the chief minister in J-K, his only concern was to bring the security situation in J-K to normal.. "I led a parliamentary delegation to meet the Hurriyat Conference as we were ready for talks with them for restoration of peace. Sharad Yadav along with others went to meet the Hurriyat leaders but they shut their doors. People were demanding withdrawal of cases against innocent and minor children and I talked to Mehbooba and asked her to release them. We did everything but the way they (Hurriyat leaders) should have responded, the did not," he said.

In 2016, a delegation comprising CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D Raja, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav and RJD's Jay Prakash Narayan had gone to meet hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani at his Srinagar residence where he was under house arrest. However, Geelani snubbed the delegation and did not even open the doors. Targeting PDP and NC, the defence minister said they used to say that the revoking of Article 370 will engulf the region into a devastating fire. "We did it boldly and nothing had happened".

"After independence, the rights of women and weaker sections including Pakistani refugees, sweepers were denied. But we ensured justice for them and they are going to vote in this elections. We also provided political reservation to Scheduled Tribes," he said. Singh said a G20 event happened in Srinagar last year, projecting Kashmir as a "tourism hotspot instead of terrorism hotspot" as government focused on road and rail connectivity and infrastructure building.

"The government under the leadership of Modi has decided to call the border villages as first villages of the country rather than last villages and we will ensure their fast development," he said, adding the border-fencing project will be completed to block infiltration. He also questioned NC vice president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah over his reported statement on the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and said "What should have been done to him? If not hanged, he should have been garlanded?" Highlighting various guarantees included in BJP manifesto, he said the party wants safe return and rehabilitation of Kashmir migrant pandits and turning J&K into a modern state of the country.