MUZAFFARABAD: AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider on Saturday said people in Azad Kashmir were desperate to extend some sort of ‘solid’ support to their suffering brethren across the Line of Control (LoC).

“Our brothers and sisters in occupied Kashmir are in great distress... How can we have a peaceful sleep here when they are having sleepless nights there,” he remarked while speaking to a big gathering in Chakothi, a town located some 58km south of here in Mr Haider’s constituency.

“No power can stop the Kashmiris from breaking this ill-omened line,” he said of the LoC.

He pointed out that the Kashmiris had been constantly reminding the United Nations and the international community of the pledge they had given to them regarding their right to decide their fate.

“We have just one slogan: right to self-determination. And now the ball is in the courts of the UN and the world community,” he said.

Mr Haider, whose recent hard-hitting speech at a parliamentarians’ convention in Islamabad in the presence of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and PM’s Special Adviser on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, is being widely discussed in mainstream and social media, said, without mincing words, that he would stand by his stance till his last breath.

He thanked the political parties and civil society for appreciating his views and made it clear that he had made a humble effort to remove the ambiguities about the expectations of Kashmiris from the government of Pakistan.

He also expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Imran Khan, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, JI chief Sirajul Haq, PML-N leaders and representatives of tribesmen for visiting Muzaffarabad and holding rallies and demonstrations to boost the morale of the besieged Kashmiris.

“I am also grateful to the mainstream media for giving exemplary coverage to our cause in these testing times of our history,” he said.

As Chakothi is overlooked by Indian gun positions atop lofty mountains across the LoC and has also been frequently targeted by the Indian troops in the past, Mr Haider said Indian army wanted dislocation of the AJK people from along the dividing line.

“But India will have to cut a sorry figure because no one will migrate from the LoC, even in the hardest situations,” he said.

He said the valiant civilians were fully prepared to give a befitting reply to the enemy troops together with their armed forces.

Earlier, the AJK premier was warmly welcomed by hundreds of people at Ghari Dupatta, Hattian Bala, Chinari and other small villages en-route Chakothi.

He inaugurated Sehat Sahulat Card scheme for Jhelum Valley by distributing Sehat Insaf Cards among some of the beneficiaries in Chakothi.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2019