ATTOCK, Feb 7: Azad Kashmir’s Interior Minister Raja Mohammad Saddique has said if India tried to make any aggression against Pakistan, Kashmiri people living on both sides of the divide will defend the country from the frontline. Mr Saddique, who is settled here since long, was speaking at a reception here on Saturday after assuming his office in the AJK.

Besides President Muslim Conference All-Jammu Kashmir Raja Farook Hydar and ex-minister AJK Mufti Mansoorur Rehman, AJK ministers Raja Nisar Ahmed Khan, Syed Shaukat Ali, Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, Noreen Arif, Dr Mohammad Riaz, Chaudhry Saddique, Chaudhry Rasheed and Chaudhry Akbar Ibrahim were also present.

Raja Saddique, who is also minister of civil defence, transport and livestock, said India would not dare any misadventure against Pakistan otherwise it will face strong retaliation from the people of Pakistan and Kashmir. Referring to the political situation in AJK, he said he would remain loyal to the Muslim Conference, adding he had severed political relations with Sardar Aattique after he betrayed the confidence of the people by his unwise policies.

Speaking on the occasion, the president of the Muslim Conference All-Jammu Kashmir Raja Farooq Hyder and others said 160 million people of Pakistan had expressed their solidarity with the Kashmiris on February 5 and condemned Indian atrocities.

They said the Kashmir issue cannot be resolved without giving the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir in accordance with the United Nations resolutions.

Earlier, hundreds of Kashmiri settlers accorded warm welcome to Mr Saddique when he arrived here after assuming the portfolios of four AJK ministries.