Hyderabad: The PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir is working to ensure that pro-Pakistan elements in the state are marginalised, BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav said on Wednesday even as he maintained that the party will leave the government there if it cannot protect India's interests.

"The government in J-K is taking all the measures to ensure that pro-Pakistan elements are completely arrested, marginalised. So, this impression is not based on facts that the government there is soft on pro-Pakistan elements. Masarat Alam is in jail. All the important separatist leaders are under house arrest," he said.

He was responding to a question from the audience after delivering a talk on 'Challenges to National Security: Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal, Pakistan to China' organised here by the J-K Study Centre and Pragna Bharat. Madhav also said that "BJP would rather leave the state government if it cannot safeguard the interests of India. If any such situation arises, we will be the first to walk out of this government. If we cannot safeguard India's interests, we will leave the government, (but) not leave India's interests," he said.

Asked why J-K cannot be split into two for bringing stability and economic development to the people there, he said the state government is striving to bridge the gap between Jammu region and Kashmir Valley. He added that there are no no plans to divide the state. "You might have asked it because the separation of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh is still fresh. We cannot go on dividing the state like that. J-K is one state, it will develop, it will prosper as one state and our government is making special efforts. In fact, (J-K chief minister) Mufti Mohammed Sayeed has gone on record repeatedly saying that his biggest challenge is not some imaginary kind of bridging of gap between the rest of India and J-K. The real challenge is to bridge the gap between Jammu (region) and Kashmir (Valley). That is the real challenge for our government. We will work towards bringing the two regions closer to each other. The air distance is 25 minutes from Jammu to Srinagar. By road, the distance is six hours, but the emotional gap is 60 years. We are determined to bridge this gap first. We are committed to making Jammu and Kashmir one united and prosperous state like Telangana or any other state, say Gujarat or Maharashtra. No plans to divide", said Madhav.

-PTI