Face of Nation : Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik today said his instruction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to create a “shining” place where people from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir would also wish to come and settle here.
Mr Malik was given charge of Jammu and Kashmir in August last year, around two months after the government ended the state’s special powers and bifurcated it into two union territories.
“If we make the improvements that are possible… the people in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir are so enduring so much hardship, they will run off, saying they want to live here,” Mr Malik said at a function in Srinagar today.
The government, however, said Jammu and Kashmir may not have to be a union territory always. The status can be removed once there is some development on the ground, the government said.
Last month, emphasising Union Minister Amit Shah’s remark that full state status will be returned to Jammu and Kashmir “at an appropriate time”, PM Modi said “This was a step taken after a lot of thought… we won’t need to continue UT status for very long”. The stint of Central rule has been beneficial for Jammu and Kashmir and led to good governance, PM Modi had said.
