Muzaffarabad, Pakistani-controlled Kashmir (CNN) Pakistan is prepared to "fight to the end" over Kashmir if necessary, Prime Minister Imran Khan said Wednesday during a speech from the Pakistani-controlled part of the disputed region.

Khan, who was in Kashmir to mark Pakistan's independence day, accused India of trying to marginalize and radicalize the region's Muslims. He also called New Delhi's move to strip Indian-controlled Kashmir of its autonomy a "strategic blunder" by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Khan's address comes a week after India's parliament voted to reclassify the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir as a union territory, allowing New Delhi greater authority over the country's only Muslim-majority region.

The territory is one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints. Claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan, it has been the epicenter for more than 70 years of an often violent territorial struggle between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

Khan declared himself a pacifist during his speech from Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, saying he believed in dialogue.

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