Kathua: Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina on Thursday paid tributes to party ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee on his death anniversary and “pledged to take back all areas of Kashmir under the illegal occupation of Pakistan and China”.

He also lauded the police and other security forces for “operation all-out” to wipe out terrorism from the Union Territory.

“Today, the country is observing Mookerjee’s ‘Balidan Diwas’. He made the supreme sacrifice to achieve ‘Ek Vidhan, Ek Nishan and Ek Pradhan’.

“This is the day for us to reiterate our pledge to take back the areas of Jammu and Kashmir which are under the illegal occupation of both Pakistan and China,” the BJP leader.

A strident critic of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Mookerjee had died under detention in Kashmir in 1953 after being arrested for entering the region without the required permit, a legal necessity then challenged by him.

“Mookerjee made the supreme sacrifice in the interest of the nation and his dream came true when Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked Article 370 in August 2019,” he said.

The whole of Jammu and Kashmir including parts under “illegal occupation of Pakistan and China” belong to India and “the day is not far when they will be retrieved and made part of our motherland”, Raina said.

“They (terrorists) are being driven out from their holes under the ongoing operation all-out to wipe out terrorism. Anyone conspiring against the country will not be spared,” he told reporters.