MUZAFFARABAD, July 8: AJK Prime Minister, Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan, on Monday called upon the United Nations and international community to resolve the Kashmir issue to establish lasting peace in South Asia.

He was speaking at a big public meeting in the AJK capital organized by his party to mark the “Thanksgiving Day” in the wake of an “approval by him of some major projects for district Muzaffarabad.”

Around 5,000 people from all six constituencies of district Muzaffarabad, brought here in vehicular caravans by their respective legislators or leaders, attended the public meeting at Officers Club Ground, which was decorated with a number of banners praising the premier. A sizable number of women were also present.

“We want peace, but not at the cost of our freedom,” said Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan while recalling that Kashmiris had been struggling to overthrow slavery for the past 172 years and had never compromised on their cause.

The world community, he pointed out, must not forget that it was India that took the issue of Kashmir to the United Nations and urged the world body to ensure a ceasefire in the state.

“And it has always been India that violated the ceasefire by targeting innocent civilians along the ceasefire line (Line of Control) apart from committing unparalleled atrocities in the occupied territory,” he said.

Sardar Sikandar paid tribute to the people of the border areas for being the defence line of not only Azad Kashmir but also of Pakistan.

“The spirit of Kashmiris for freedom has always been high. But, with the establishment of the Muslim Conference government in Azad Kashmir, the people of occupied territory are carrying on the freedom struggle with more vigour,” he asserted.

The approval of medical college in Muzaffarabad had been accorded on merit, he said, adding that another such institution was being set up in private sector in Mirpur. The regional campus of virtual university, he said, was also being established in Afzalpur (district Mirpur).

The premier said medical and cadet colleges established in whatever parts of Azad Kashmir would be for the benefit of the people of the whole state. He told the audience that the government was also endeavouring to provide Sui gas to Muzaffarabad, Rawalakot, Kotli and Dadyal, through big tanks.

Without directly referring to the longstanding demand that Muzaffarabad, being the largest in terms of area and population, should be sub-divided into at least two districts, the premier said the decision regarding the administrative units of Azad Kashmir would be taken on merit.

He also expressed gratitude to President Pervez Musharraf for holding free, fair and impartial elections in the state as well as appointing MC leader Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan as chairman National Kashmir Committee.

Earlier, AJK minister for works Syed Mumtaz Ali Gillani, who presided over the public meeting, thanked the prime minister for approving medical and naval cadet colleges, and the construction of Naluchi Bridge in Muzaffarabad besides allocating funds for the second phase of Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences here. Gillani accused the previous PPP regime of ignoring the developmental needs of district Muzaffarabad.

The minister for forests Mufti Mansoorur Rehman and Legislative Assembly members Noreen Arif and Raja Abdul Qayyum Khan were prominent among the more than a dozen MC leaders who also spoke on the occasion.