Jammu, Jan 19: Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister, Surinder Kumar Choudhary Monday said that the demand for separate state for Jammu region is supporting the agenda of Pakistan to divide the Union Territory.
He said that Islamabad has been attempting to divide Jammu and Kashmir since 1947. “They have failed to achieve their agenda.”
Choudhary while addressing the media said, “Those who are saying Jammu should be made a separate state are waving the flag of Pakistan.”
The Deputy CM also said that Pakistan had been attempting to separate Jammu from Kashmir since its independence and that similar efforts continued during decades of militancy.
“They cannot be Indians and they cannot be patriots,” he said, adding that people who believed in the unity of the country wanted Jammu and Kashmir to remain together.
Choudhary added that Jammu and Kashmir was the state of Maharaja Hari Singh, Maharaja Gulab Singh and Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah. “People had made sacrifices to keep it united.
“This is the state for which we have given our blood, sweat and tears. We will never want it to be separated,” he said.
He said no patriot, whether from Jammu, Kashmir or Ladakh, would support the division of the region.
“Whoever wants to separate Jammu and Kashmir is waving the flag of Pakistan. He is not waving the flag of India,” Choudhary said.
He said the National Conference had always stood for the unity of Jammu and Kashmir. “From Sher-e-Kashmir to Dr Farooq Abdullah to Omar Abdullah, we are patriots and we are Indians,” he said.
Choudhary said the National Conference had made sacrifices for the country and would not allow Jammu and Kashmir to be divided—(KNO)
