Expressed solidarity with people of Indian occupied Kashmir (IOK), Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday said that Pakistan will always stand by Kashmiris to counter India's hegemonic ambitions the way it has in the past. "There can never be a compromise on Kashmir," General 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 added, rejecting India's withdrawal of special status for occupied Kashmir. The CoAS said that 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. "We shall stand in the face of tyranny, regardless of the cost," the CoAS vowed.