India says it expects to annex Azad Kashmir one day

India’s army chief Gen Bipin Rawat made similar claims last week

NEW DELHI: India's foreign minister has said that Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) belongs to India and that the country expects to gain physical control over it one day.

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told a news conference on Tuesday that the Indian position on AJK "has always been and will always be very clear... it is a part of India and we expect one day that we will have the jurisdiction, physical jurisdiction over it".

#WATCH: External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar says, "Our position on PoK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) has always been and will always be very clear. PoK is part of India and we expect one day that we will have the physical jurisdiction over it." pic.twitter.com/XpK0aPspmE

— ANI (@ANI) September 17, 2019

The statement validated Islamabad's claims that New Delhi is seeking a military confrontation to divert world's attention from the situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

The IOK's special status was revoked on August 5, and since then severe restrictions on movement, including a communication blackout, are in place.

The unilateral move led to the heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed countries with a surge in ceasefire violations by occupying forces along the Line of Control.

Last week, in a similar claim, India’s army chief General Bipin Rawat had said that Indian army was ready to occupy AJK, and was just waiting for a go-ahead from Narendra Modi’s government.

With additional input from News Desk