Talks should be held on how Pakistan will return PoK to India: Baijayant Jay Panda

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national vice president Baijayant Jay Panda on Tuesday slammed former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah for his comment that the situation in the union territory cannot be normalised until talks with Pakistan take place.

Speaking to ANI, Panda said, "Talks with Pakistan should be held on how the country will return PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) to us because they have no role in it."

"Farooq's statement is wrong because we had talks with Pakistan for decades. What did we get in return? As long as the talks continued, they kept sending terrorists to India. They carried out many terrorist attacks on India," the BJP leader said.

Following the terrorist attack near a police camp at Zewan in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar which took the lives of two police personnel, the National Conference chief had asked the Centre to hold talks with Pakistan as they do with China.

Referring to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Abdullah had said "Friends can be changed, but not neighbours. So we cannot wait for talks till the last bullet is fired. Both countries have to come forward for talks. It is good for both India and Pakistan and we can avoid the damage."

Two police personnel were killed and 12 others injured after terrorists fired upon a police vehicle near a police camp at Zewan on the outskirts of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.

Hitting out at previous governments of Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP leader said that they wanted to use the terrorist attacks for their own political benefits.

"Previous governments did not want a decline in the terrorist attacks. They wanted the situation to remain the same so that they can use it for their own political benefits. Thousands of people were killed during these attacks. But now, terrorism will not work anymore," he added.

Further, Panda talked about the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir and said that it is continuously improving now.

"In November, Jammu and Kashmir has received around 1.27 lakh tourists. Stone-pelting incidents have also stopped. The terrorist attacks have declined here as compared to previous years," Panda said.

( With inputs from ANI )

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