PM Narendra Modi must begin campaign to free PoK: Baba Ramdev

ROHTAK: Calling on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch a campaign to free Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev has said it was about time that India took concrete steps to take back the "captured and disputed" land. "Prime Minister Modi should begin a campaign to free PoK. Nawaz Sharif has the nerve to say that Pakistan will take Kashmir at any cost. Our children look at Kashmir only on the maps but Pakistan has captured it. When a cowardly nation captures a part of a great nation, we can't just sit silently," Ramdev told the media. He further said that the Prime Minister should take concrete steps to destroy active terrorist organisations targeting India from the Pakistani soil. Earlier, describing Kashmir as "unfinished agenda" of the United Nations, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to raise the issue at every international platform and provide all sort of support to Kashmiris. Sharif had also praised slain Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani Wani and called him a 'martyr', accusing India of human rights violations in the valley. In response, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj gave a fitting reply to Sharif for interfering in India's internal matters and trying to 'destabilise the situation in the Kashmir valley', saying that the continuous remarks by Pakistan are somewhere leading to a malicious propaganda against India. Meanwhile, People in Neelum valley in PoK on Friday took to the streets to protest against rigged July 21 elections, which was won by Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. The protesters had to face the police's wrath as they burnt Pakistani flag and raised slogans against the government. Besides blackening election posters, the protesters also burnt tyres, blocked traffic and clashed with the police personnel deployed on duty. Widespread protests have been witnessed in the major PoK towns, including Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Chinari and Mirpur, after members of the PML (N) killed a supporter of the Muslim Conference (MC) in Muzaffarabad. Locals allege that the elections in PoK are always fixed in favour of the ruling party in Pakistan, in current instance, for the PML-N.