Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said in Lok Sabha that India will continue to claim the territories of Jammu and Kashmir under the occupation of Pakistan and ruled out any talks with separatist amalgam Hurriyat Conference.
Replying to a debate on the resolution for abrogating some provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019, Shah also said the Modi government will have no hesitation in restoring statehood to Jammu and Kashmir when normalcy returns.
"India will continue to claim Pakistan-occupied Kashmir," he said.
Shah said Article 370 was creating doubts over Jammu and Kashmir's relations with India.
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"This is not a historical blunder but we are rectifying the historical blunder," he said dismissing the opposition charges that the government was committing a mistake.
He also strongly refuted the suggestion that abrogation of Article 370 was "communal agenda" and said the provision in the Constitution was discriminatory and against the minorities, women and welfare of the people.
The home minister also ruled out talks with the Hurriyat Conference.
"We don't want to talk to Hurriyat, but we are ready to speak to people of Kashmir...," he said.
Shah said over 41,500 people were killed in Jammu and Kashmir due to militancy since 1989 and blamed the Article 370 and Article 35A for the problem.
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Defending the government's action to put restrictions in Kashmir Valley in the last two days, the home minister said law and order situation there has not deteriorated and whatever actions have been taken were all precautionary.
The government on Monday revoked some provisions of the Article 370 to take away Jammu and Kashmir's special status, and proposed bifurcation of the state into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, a bold and far-reaching decision that seeks to redraw the map and future of a region at the centre of protracted militancy.
Fulfilling an electoral promise of the BJP less than 90 days after the Modi 2.0 government took power, Shah had announced the decision in Rajya Sabha, which approved both the resolution and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation bill.
(PTI)
