MUZAFFARABAD: It was unfortunate that statements abound on the situation along the Line of Control (LoC), but no action was visible on the ground so far, Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider said on Friday.

“Yesterday, a man and his [12-year-old] son were martyred in Neelum valley. This boy would have become a source of strength for his parents and siblings, but he fell victim to India’s naked aggression. A few days ago, another father and son lost their lives in Indian shelling in Nauseri. How long this will go on,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion, at the stone-laying ceremony of a new building for Muzaffarabad Press Club.

Mr Haider said Prime Minister Imran Khan should not think that issuing mere statements in response to Indian shelling was enough.

“Remember, this will create problems in future. This may also cause distance [between the Kashmiris and Pakistan],” he warned.

The AJK premier maintained that statements like “I have asked troops to remain alert” were not going to bring any solace to the suffering Kashmiris.

“Why don’t you strike at their [India’s] military positions? If they fire at Jura, why don’t you hit back at their brigade headquarters in Tangdhar [across the LoC in Neelum]?”

Mr Haider said the people of Azad Kashmir were mature enough not to be content with “lollipops”.

He clarified that he was not speaking as a PML-N leader to a PTI leader, but as the prime minister of AJK to the prime minister of Pakistan.

People living along the LoC would continue to offer sacrifices, but at the same time they wanted India to suffer losses as well, Farooq Haider added.

“Is it written in Kashmiris’ stars to receive bodies of their near and dear ones, both in held Kashmir and along the LoC. They should also take bodies [of soldiers] from Kashmir to India for cremation.”

Mr Haider regretted that the killings in Neelum valley had taken place on Thursday afternoon, but no TV channel had aired the news even after a lapse of 18 hours.

“While reports about deaths in accidents appear regularly, the news about martyrdom at the hands of infidels at the LoC do not find space. This gives us pain,” he said.

“I want to know what’s the point in suppressing this news?”

Earlier, the prime minister urged journalists to highlight the sufferings of Kashmiris through all media forms.

“We have to ensure that there is no friction in our ranks on the basis of ideologies,” Farooq Haider stressed.

Earlier, the Public Relations Department’s chief Raja Azhar Iqbal told the audience that the buildings for press club and the Press Information Department would be completed in two years at a cost of Rs125.755 million.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2019