India warns Pakistani Army Chief, ‘Vacate PoK as soon as possible, or else…’

way2barak April 18: India on Thursday brushed aside Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir’s remarks that Kashmir is Pakistan’s “jugular vein,” and asserted that the only link between Kashmir and Pakistan is Islamabad’s illegal occupation of part of the region (PoK) that it must vacate.

Addressing a gathering of overseas Pakistanis in Islamabad on Wednesday, General Munir reiterated Pakistan’s longstanding rhetoric on Kashmir and defended the controversial two-nation theory that led to the Partition in 1947. Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif was present.

“Our stance is absolutely clear, it was our jugular vein. It will be our jugular vein, we will not forget it. We will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their heroic struggle,” General Munir said.

He also claimed that Pakistanis are bound by a “superior ideology and culture” and urged the diaspora to pass down the story of Pakistan’s creation, rooted in the belief that “Muslims and Hindus were fundamentally different in religion, customs, traditions, and ambitions”. Rebutting his remarks, Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said here: “How can anything foreign be in a jugular vein? This is a Union Territory of India. It’s only relationship with Pakistan is the vacation of illegally occupied territories by that country.”

On Pakistan’s attempts to wash its hands off the 26/11 terror accused Tahawwur Rana, Jaiswal said, “Pakistan may try very hard but its reputation as the epicentre of global terrorism will not diminish.“The extradition of Rana serves as a reminder to Pakistan that it needs to bring to justice other perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks whom it continues to shield.” he said.