Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday challenged the Narendra Modi government to take back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir if it can deal with China and Pakistan together. Chowdhury said that China would intervene if India does anything in PoK. Speaking in Lok Sabha, the senior Congress leader said: “If we want to do anything in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, we will have to clash with China. Are you ready to face Pakistan and China together? If you are, why don’t you take PoK back in our possession?”

Referring to Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane’s statement on PoK, Chowdhury said: “The government should bring another resolution telling the Army that it wants them to bring PoK back to us.” Last month, the Army chief while interacting with media had said that the Army would act if there was an order from the government to take back PoK. Responding to a question from media on PoK, Naravane said that there was a Parliamentary resolution on PoK a few years ago that the entire erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir is a part of India. “If the Parliament wants that the territory should be ours and if there are orders in this regard, then we will definitely act upon it,” he added.

The Modi government has been saying that it is committed to taking back PoK. Home Minister Amit Shah recently made his stand clear that his government would take back PoK as it is an integral part of India. During the discussion over the abrogation of Article 370, Amit Shah had said that PoK and Aksai Chin are part of India and BJP leaders would sacrifice their lives for the region.

Speaking on how the government plans to take back PoK, Shah had said that PoK and Aksai Chin would be integrated and when it happens, people will come to know as they did in case of Article 370.