MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider on Wednesday announced launching of the “Save Kashmir” campaign amid “attempts to divide the state of Jammu and Kashmir”.

“This is the most difficult time for the state of Jammu and Kashmir because it is being (permanently) divided. But as long as Azad Jammu and Kashmir remains in existence, no power can brush Kashmir issue under the rug,” he said at a function in Pallandari, according to a press release issued by his office.

The function was held to mark the death anniversary of “Baba-i-Poonch” Col Khan Muhammad Khan, the grandfather of health minister Dr Najeeb Naqi Khan, who was also among the speakers.

Declaring that the state of Jammu and Kashmir was an indivisible entity, Mr Haider said: “We may not be alive tomorrow but our next generation will definitely see the Kashmir issue reaching its logical conclusion. The decision (about the fate) of the disputed state will be made by the people who are its policy-makers.”

“It’s incumbent upon us to ensure that our names are not taken with Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq and Allah willing this will not happen,” he said, referring to the two top officials of British India’s princely states whose names have become synonyms for “betrayal”.

Mr Haider recalled that veteran Kashmiri leader Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan had publicly questioned what authority the government of Pakistan had to divide Kashmir and had also warned without mincing words that Kashmiris would put up strong resistance against any such move.

“Today I once again declare that in order to save the (status of the) liberated territory I am ready to walk behind all other political leaders, including Chaudhry Latif Akbar, Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, Barrister Sultan Mahmood and Jamaat-i-Islami,” Mr Haider said.

“We cannot cling on to power ingloriously while compromising our rights and freedom. We will not shirk from any sacrifice for the identity of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, success of Kashmir freedom movement and integrity of the entire state,” he added.

While terming the 13th amendment in the AJK Constitution a landmark achievement of his government, he declared that AJK would not surrender, at any cost, the fiscal and administrative powers it had gained.

He expressed his gratitude to former Pakistani premiers Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for “empowering and resolving some longstanding issues of the AJK government”.

However, he alleged that the present government had imposed a Rs15 billion cut in AJK’s share from the variable grant, which had created fiscal problems for the latter.

Mr Haider said that the upcoming polls in Gilgit-Baltistan should be free and fair, vowing that AJK’s polls next year would be free and fair. “If any rigging is committed in the 12 constituencies (of AJK assembly) in Pakistan its consequences will be bad for all of us,” he warned.

The AJK premier also pointed out that the UN Security Council had made it clear that local assemblies (in any part of Jammu and Kashmir) had no right to annex the territory concerned with any state (India or Pakistan).

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2020