New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday agreed with former Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi’s statement on Kashmir and asserted that Kashmir has so far been a part of the Indian Territory and will always remain its part.
In a press conference, Singh said “He (Afridi) was right in saying that Pakistan is not able to handle its own four provinces, what will they handle Kashmir. Kashmir was a part of India, is a part of India and will always be a part of India.
The home minister was responding to the former captain of Pakistan cricket team Afridi’s statement that ‘Pakistan doesn’t need Kashmir, as it cannot manage its own four provinces’.
In a press conference in London, the United Kingdom, the former Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Khan Afridi had said that Pakistan does not need Kashmir. Taking a dig at Pakistan’s poor administration, Afridi said: “Pakistan does not need Kashmir; it is not able to even handle the four provinces it has.”
However, Afridi also defended the independence for Kashmir. In the video of the press interaction shared on YouTube, Afridi can be heard telling reporters “people in Kashmir are dying and it hurts a lot to see innocent dying, whatever religion they may belong to. The people there should be allowed to be independent for the sake of humanity.”
“Neither India nor Pakistan should be given control of Kashmir, instead Kashmir should be allowed to evolve as an independent country”, he further told the press.
Indian government agreed with the part of his statement about Pakistan’s poor administration not being able to manage the four provinces that it has.
