Shuriah Niazi
08 August 2019•Update: 08 August 2019
New Delhi
India on Thursday ‘regretted’ the steps announced by Pakistan, like withdrawing its envoy and downgrading diplomatic ties with New Delhi, an official statement said on Thursday.
Pakistan had taken unilateral punitive measures as a form of protest against India withdrawing the special status and bifurcating Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir.
The statement issued by India’s Foreign Ministry urged Pakistan to review its measures, to preserve normal channels for diplomatic communication.
“We have seen reports that Pakistan has decided to take certain unilateral actions in respect of its bilateral relations with India. This includes downgrading of our diplomatic relations. It is not surprising that such developmental initiatives that could address any disaffection in Jammu and Kashmir should be negatively perceived in Pakistan, which has utilized such sentiments to justify its cross-border terrorism,” the statement said.
The statement termed the recent developments pertaining to the special provision of Kashmir entirely an internal affair of India. “The Constitution of India was, is and will always be a sovereign matter. Seeking to interfere in that jurisdiction by invoking an alarmist vision of the region will never succeed,” the ministry said.
Pakistan on Wednesday had asked India to withdraw its high commissioner, hours after Islamabad announced to downgrade its diplomatic mission.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of India on Thursday refused to grant an urgent hearing, on a plea filed by an opposition Congress activist Tehseen Poonawalla seeking an end to restrictions like curfew, phone lines, internet, news channels etc., in Jammu and Kashmir.
Advocate Suhail Malik, appearing for the activist Poonawalla, told Press Trust of India, that he is not expressing any opinion on Article 370, but to end restrictions hurting common people.
In Srinagar, the Leader of Opposition in Indian Parliament Ghulam Nabi Azad was stopped at the airport. He was not allowed to meet his party leaders, who are agitating against the abrogation of special provision, under Article 370 of the Indian constitution.
Over 500 important political workers and leaders, including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, have been detained since the central government divided the state into two centrally administered union territories.
