Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider on Saturday said people in his administered area were desperate to extend some sort of “solid” support to their suffering brethren across the Line of Control (LoC) after a signal from the governments in Muzaffarabad and Islamabad in this regard.

“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 of the victims of Indian shelling in Chakothi.

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

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He pointed out that the Kashmiri people 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. The ball is in the courts of the UN and the international community,” he said.

Haider, whose recent hard-hitting speech at a Parliamentarians’ convention in Islamabad in the presence of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood 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 Amir Sirajul Haq, PML-N leaders and representatives of tribesmen for visiting Muzaffarabad and holding rallies and demonstrations to boost the morale of 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, Haider said Indian army wanted dislocation of the AJK people from along the dividing line.

“But India cuts 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.

“No army can fight a war without popular local support. While Kashmiris abhor the Indian army, they stand shoulder to shoulder with the Pakistan Army.”

The AJK premier said no amount of words could encompass the sacrifices that the residents along the LoC had been rendering in the face of Indian aggression.

“You people will be in the vanguard of the saviours of your oppressed brethren across this bloody line,” he said.

He said he had full faith in the professionalism and spiritedness of the Pakistan Army which would fail every machination of the cowardly enemy.

The AJK premier also asked the administration officials to remain on their toes to thwart any move from "the wicked and cruel enemy".

Referring to a protest demonstration planned in the USA on Sept 27, he said he was hopeful that not only the Pakistani and Kashmiri diaspora but all those people who believed in the inherent rights of fellow human beings, regardless of race and religion, would participate in that massive demonstration against the subjugation of Kashmiris.

Earlier, Haider was warmly welcomed by hundreds of people at Ghari Dupatta, Hattian Bala, Chinari and other small villages en-route Chakothi. He also inaugurated Sehat Sahulat Card scheme for Jhelum Valley by distributing Sehat Insaf Cards among some of the beneficiaries in Chakothi.