Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday expressed confidence that by following the path of love, unity and truth, the day is not far when people of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir will return to India.

During the inauguration of the CII Annual Business Summit 2025, the Defence Minister said, ”The people of PoK are part of our nation and our family. A day will surely come when they will willingly reunite with their motherland. I am confident that PoK will one day proclaim: ‘I am Bharat, and I have returned’.”

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He said most of the people in PoK feel a deep connection with India, and there are only a few who have been misled.

”The situation of our brothers living in PoK is similar to that of the brave warrior Maharana Pratap’s younger brother Shakti Singh…India always talks about connecting hearts, and we believe that by following the path of love, unity and truth, the day is not far when our own part PoK will return and say, I am India, I have come back. Integration of PoK with India depends on the cultural, social and economic prosperity of this country.”

He noted that running the business of terrorism is not cost-effective, adding that today, Pakistan has realised that it has to pay a heavy price for it.

”We have redesigned and redefined both India’s strategy and response against terrorism. We have recalibrated our engagement and scope of dialogue with Pakistan. Now, whenever there will be talks, it will be only on terrorism and PoK,” he stressed.

” I believe that the people of PoK are our own, part of our family. We are committed to the resolution of “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” and we have full faith that our brothers who are geographically and politically separated from us today, will also return to the mainstream of India someday or the other”.