Union Minister Jitendra Singh here on Sunday said after the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, people should now prayfor the integration of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) with India in theirlifetime. He also downplayed the arrest of mainstream political leaders and thecommunication blockade in the Valley following the scrapping of the specialstatus and bifurcation of the state in union territories.  "We are lucky that it (revoking of thespecial status) happened in our lifetime. It is because of the sacrifices ofour three generations," Singh said addressing a meet on the currentsocio-political milieu in Jammu and Kashmir, organised by the state BJP atparty headquarters in Jammu. He said, "After this historic step, let usmove forward with a positive thinking of freeing PoK from the illegaloccupation of Pakistan and making it an integral part of the country inaccordance with the unanimously passed resolution in Parliament (in1994)."

Without naming the Congress for the criticism on the arrestof former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, the Union Ministersaid it was "unnecessarily being made a big issue".

"Under some compulsion or reason, the government hastaken some steps to maintain peace. You (Congress) had arrested NationalConference founder Sheikh Abdullah. Such a thing had not happened inKashmir," he said, adding that the leaders were not being kept in solitaryconfinement."They are doing their workout at the gym, reading books andeven ordering and watching Hollywood movies," he said.

Defending the move with regard to Article 370, he said somepeople were frustrated because they had created a narrative in the country thatno power could abolish the special status being enjoyed by Jammu andKashmir.  "We did it...Article 370was a miscarriage of history and perhaps the gravest blunder in post-independenceIndia,"he said, adding that it led to the lack of development anddiscrimination within regions but also a "psychological isolation thatcreated mental barriers". "Former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee talkedabout insaniyat (humanity), jamhuriyat (democracy), kashmiriyat to restorepeace in Jammu and Kashmir. By this move, we have restored jamhuriyat(democracy) and have done the necessary course correction to pave a way forinasaniyat and kashmiriyat," Singh asserted.

"Is it humanity to send your own child outside foreducation and hand over stones and gun to the ward of a poor neighbour. TheKashmiriyat ended the day the Pandits were driven out from there," Singhsaid, adding that the democracy vanished when people started becoming membersof Parliament and the state assembly with eight per cent voter turnout.

Sabha. Otherwise, it is a joke on the democracy," hesaid.Singh added that in the 1996 assembly elections after several years of thegovernor's and president's rule in the state, the chief minister (FarooqAbdullah) was brought from abroad.

Without naming the National Conference or the PDP butapparently referring to these parties, he said they were spreading fear out offrustration as they used to propagate a notion that their presence wasimperative for India in Kashmir."Now is the time to expose them on theirown turf," he said. We will show the mirror to the Congress, whichdeceived the nation on Article 370. The National Conference betrayed its ownpeople and was not faithful to the Articles 370 and 35-A. Otherwise, they wouldnot have brought so many amendments over the years in collaboration with theCongress at the Centre," he added.

The minister also allayed the apprehensions that people fromoutside would come and grab government jobs in Jammu and Kashmir.  The union minister said it was surprisingthat some people in Jammu were also falling prey to the negative propaganda.

"Some fringe elements have an agenda. We should not payheed to their argument. Whatever had happened, nobody had ever imagined,"he said.