Indian envoy in Pakistan expelled over Kashmir row
Print Edition
PAKISTAN announced yesterday that it is expelling the Indian High Commissioner and suspending bilateral trade with its nuclear-armed neighbor, days after New Delhi stripped the disputed Kashmir region of its special autonomy.
“We will call back our ambassador from Delhi and send back their envoy,” foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced in televised comments.
He spoke as the government released a statement declaring that Pakistan will suspend trade with India in a downgrading of diplomatic ties between the arch rivals. Islamabad also vowed to take the matter to the United Nations Security Council.
Monday’s decision by the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to tighten control on Muslim-majority Kashmir had been widely expected to trigger conflict with Pakistan and reignite an insurgency that has already cost tens of thousands of lives.
Delhi has insisted that the move is an internal matter.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have twice waged war over Kashmir and in February engaged in an aerial clash. India, which has been battling insurgents there for 30 years, said the special status had hindered Kashmir’s development and it wanted to fully integrate the region with the rest of the country.
Contesting claims
Kashmir has been divided between Pakistan and India since independence in 1947. They have contesting claims on the Himalayan region, and have fought two of their three wars over it.
Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan vowed on Tuesday to fight the issue “on every forum” and demanded the international community take action, accusing Modi of an anti-Muslim agenda.
The Pakistani military has also said it “firmly stands” with Kashmiris.
Streets in the main city of Srinagar were deserted for a third day, with almost all shops shut, barring some pharmacies. Armed federal police manned mobile checkpoints across the city, limiting people’s movement.
Knots of young protesters threw stones at soldiers, police and a witness said, amid anger over the telecoms clampdown that began on Sunday.
India and Pakistan should refrain from taking actions that will unilaterally change the status quo and escalate tensions in Kashmir, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Voicing China’s serious concern over the situation in Kashmir, spokesperson Hua Chunying said that China’s position on the Kashmir issue is clear and consistent. “It is an international consensus that the Kashmir issue is an issue left from the past between India and Pakistan. The relevant sides need to exercise restraint and act prudently,” Hua said.
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