Raja Farooq Haider, the prime minister of what Pakistan calls Azad Jammu and Kashmir, opposed any bilateral engagement between India and Pakistan and asked all Kashmiris to “categorically and unanimously” reject the initiative.

According to a report in Dawn, he said, “any exercise sans their involvement, as a primary party to the dispute, will as usual end up in futility”. His statement came over a week after DGMOs of India and Pakistan released a joint statement, calling for a strict observance of the 2003 ceasefire understanding. 

Speaking at the 33rd death anniversary function of Kashmiri leader K.H. Khurshid, Haider said that he had dedicated his life to the freedom of India-held Kashmir as well as the “identity, integrity, honor and authority” of the liberated territory of the disputed Himalayan region.

‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ is a territory which India says illegally held by Pakistan and has no international recognition of its government.