MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi on Saturday said the Kashmiris wanted settlement of their longstanding issue in accordance with the United Nations resolutions but warned that the failure of international community to address this dispute could force Pakistan to resort to a nuclear war with India.

“...We have not developed the atom bomb for a showcase. If the international community does not settle our [Kashmir] issue, the whole world will be in flames,” he cautioned in his speech at a function in the city of Kotli.

According to a handout issued by the Press Information Department, Mr Niazi pointed out that India had turned occupied Kashmir into the largest military concentration camp of the world after Aug 5, 2019 and added that Kashmiris would chase [Indian PM] Narendra Modi across the globe to expose his war crimes in the occupied territory.

“Our leader Imran Khan is a brave man; neither does he panic nor does he feel anxiety. As an ambassador of the Kashmiris, he has repeatedly said that Pakistan will respect whatever decision the Kashmiris take regarding their future status.”

Eulogizing the armed forces of Pakistan for being ‘as strong as our faith’, he said the Kashmiris stood shoulder to shoulder with them.

“If our soldiers were not standing guard at the bunkers along the Line of Control (LoC), how could have we lived with peace in Dabsi, Darra Sher Khan and Neelum,” he said, naming some of the AJK areas along the LoC.

Mr Niazi went on to declare that if India’s cowardly army resorted to shelling at the unarmed AJK residents, Pakistan army would not sit at ease.

He said [AJK President] Barrister Sultan Mahmood enjoyed command over the Kashmir issue and had been highlighting it in the best manner.

Of himself, he said Prime Minister Khan had entrusted him with the task of looking after the affairs of governance in the “base camp of Kashmir freedom movement” keeping in view of his four decades long political struggle.

“In politics, neither did I usurp the rights of anyone nor did I do injustice to anyone,” he asserted.

Mr Niazi assured the audience that the government would reconstruct all dilapidated roads along the LoC under its reliefpackage.

He said since Kotli had recently been granted the big-city status, work on the ring road project and water supply schemes would be expedited to facilitate its residents.

Referring to a recently signed MoU, PM Niazi said that the AJK government would receive an income of Rs12 billion in terms of water use charges of Mangla dam which would be spent on the wellbeing of the people.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2022