ISLAMABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider on Sunday distanced himself from remarks which quoted him as saying a day earlier that judgements such as the one in the Panama Papers case against prime minister Nawaz Sharif would force people of AJK to consider accession with India. He said his statement was quoted out of context.

“Future of Kashmir is linked with Pakistan’s prosperity. I condemn the way my Saturday’s press conference was presented. I had addressed the conference as a Kashmiri,” he said. “Kashmiris do not have any option other than Pakistan and have been trying to become a part of the country for last 70 years,” he said.

Mr Haider said the people of Kashmir got disturbed when the rupee began devaluing, but “they prefer to get buried in the flag of Pakistan”.

Speaking to reporters, the AJK premier said he had concerns regarding the Supreme Court’s decision and alleged that there was a conspiracy behind the disqualification of Mr Sharif.

He said Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had been saying that billions of rupees were offered to the judges but no notice for contempt of the court had been issued to him.

“Now it is being said that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Mian Shahbaz Sharif will also face the same fate,” he said about the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s nominees for the prime minister’s post.

He said countries were called ‘banana republics’ because of such steps, not because of having jungles of the fruit.

However, he said, he would continue speaking about Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution about disqualification of lawmakers because he was “not a pigeon that shuts its eyes” in troubled times.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2017