Reality of Kashmir cannot be changed by India: Pak Army chief

Needling India, Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday said the reality of Kashmir was neither changed by an "illegal piece of paper" in 1947 nor by any action "now or in future."

"There can never be a compromise on Kashmir," Gen Bajwa said in his Independence Day message to the nation, according to a tweet by the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

"Reality of Kashmir was neither changed by an illegal piece of paper in 1947 nor will any other do it now or in future," he said, apparently refereing to Jammu and Kashmir's accession to India and rejecting India's recent revocation of the special status for Jammu and Kashmir.

India has said that the time has come for Pakistan to accept the new reality and stop interfering in the country's internal affairs.

Gen Bajwa said the Pakistan Army is "fully alive to the sanctity of Jammu & Kashmir" and will remain prepared to perform its part in line with its national duty for the cause of Kashmir.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Imran Khan said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a "strategic blunder" by withdrawing Jammu and Kashmir's status through the revocation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.

Addressing a special session of the assembly of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Khan said that any military action by India in PoK would be countered with a stronger response.

The messages from Pakistan's top civil-military leadership come as the nation observed this year's Independence Day in solidarity with Kashmiris following India's move on Kashmir.

The Pakistan government has also decided that August 15, India's day of independence, will be observed as Black Day in protest against what it called New Delhi's "unilateral" and "illegal" moves.