The groups under the umbrella of United Jihad Council held a public meeting in Kotli in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir near Indian border. Hundreds of people attended the gathering, held to coincide with Pakistan's independence day, police official Javed Shah said.

While the groups are formally banned, Pakistani authorities - which support their aims - do little to stop them gathering, especially in Kashmir.

The Himalayan territory of Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and archrival India. Both nations claim the mountainous region in its entirety. Many of the armed groups in the region were started with support from Islamabad.

"Jihad (armed struggle) is the only way to achieve freedom of Kashmir," said part of a resolution adopted at the end of the meeting, according to Syed Salahuddin, the chairman of the jihad council.

The militant leaders there opposed any efforts to forge peace with India. They said dialogue and peace negations between the two rivals have always been futile.

The 2008 Mumbai attacks halted a slow-moving peace process between Pakistan and India - which have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947 - aimed at resolving their core dispute over Kahsmir. Under pressure from Washington, top Pakistani officials traveled to New Delhi last month in response to an Indian offer for resuming talks, but did not make much progress.

India has blamed outlawed Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attacks, that killed 166 people.

Lashkar's chief commander in the Pakistani controlled Kashmir, Maulana Abdul Wahid Kashmiri said at the meeting that his group would continue supporting the freedom struggle.