Jammu, Oct. 17 -- union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh today said that had Sardar Patel been given a free hand, the issue of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) would not have arisen and the history of J&K, indeed that of India, would have been different.
Addressing a news conference at Kathua after the culmination of the Unity March at Degree College Kathua, Dr Singh said, "The then PM Jawaharlal Nehru not allowing his Home Minister Patel to handle J&K the same way as was handling other princely States of the country led to the creation of PoJK.""And when the Indian forces were about to retrieve the part of J&K captured by Pakistan, Nehru, without consulting Patel or other cabinet colleagues, went to the radio and declared a unilateral...