Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik said on Saturday that the message Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave him when he was appointed was to make the state “shine so much” that the people of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir would want to cross over to this side, the Hindustan Times reported.

“When I came to take charge of Jammu and Kashmir, prime minister told me that make Jammu and Kashmir shine so much that people of PoK would want to cross the border over to our side and say proudly, this is our Kashmir,” Malik said at a function in Srinagar. The governor also claimed that the “tremendous work” done by him cannot be matched by any previous elected state government.

Jammu and Kashmir has been under President’s Rule since December last year, and was under Governor’s Rule from June to December after the Bharatiya Janata Party pulled out of a coalition government. On August 5 this year, the Centre revoked special status to the state under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. The state has subsequently been in a lock down which is slowly easing.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said in a speech last month that India will also take Pakistan-occupied Kashmir back from the neighbouring country.

Malik claimed that the Centre was eager to help the people of Jammu and Kashmir and wanted them to come forward with their demands. “The central government has given us eight medical colleges this year alone, which is more than what has been given to any other state in the country,” he asserted. “We are soon going to have 4,500 doctors in the state. This is the perfect time for development in the region, I would request the people to keep the pressure on their politicians.”

Malik said Amit Shah’s meeting with sarpanches from villages in the state showed that the Modi-led government was “standing with open arms”.

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