MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's Jammu and Kashmir query leaves Cong red-fac

Congress MP Adhir Chowdhury speaks in the LS on Tuesday. Pic /PTI

New Delhi: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Congress' Lok Sabha MP, on Tuesday sought to know from the Centre if J&K was an internal matter or a bilateral issue.

"You say it is an internal matter, but it is being monitored by the UN since 1948; is it an internal matter? We signed the Shimla Agreement and Lahore Declaration, was that an internal matter or bilateral?" he asked. Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, "How can you say that Kashmir is not our integral part and it is not our internal issue? Sonia Gandhi was in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi was there, but no one pulled him up for these comments," he said.

PoK part of J&K: Shah

He also raised a query over the status of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), saying, "In 1994 this parliament adopted a resolution that PoK has to be restored. Now once J&K has been bifurcated, what shall be the status of PoK? Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that PoK and Aksai Chin are part of J&K and that Kashmir Valley is an integral part of the country. "Kashmir is an integral part of India, there is no doubt over it. When I talk about Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Aksai Chin are included in it," he said.

Congress divided

The Congress has suffered another blow, with a number of party leaders supporting the Centre's decision on Article 370. The Congress has opposed the move and the bill to bifurcate J&K. Janardan Dwivedi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Deepender Hooda and Milind Deora were among the Congress leaders who have backed the Centre. Congress' chief whip in the RS Bhubaneshwar Kalita quit his RS membership after the party asked him to issue a whip to all members for opposing the bill.

'Locals supportive'

Meanwhile. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Tuesday reviewed the situation on ground zero and met with some locals a day after Article 370 was scrapped. Doval said the locals were supportive of the decision and felt that the change was well planned, a source privy to the developments told ANI.

1948
Year since UN has been monitoring J&K situation

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