Pakistan should review its decision to downgrade ties and suspend trade with India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.
An MEA statement said the Pakistani actions were aimed at presenting an “alarmist picture to the world.” It maintained that the ending of special status to Jammu and Kashmir was an internal affair of India, aimed at bringing developmental opportunities to the people there. Pakistan exploited the lack of development to generate disaffections and “to justify its cross-border terrorism.”
“The Government of India regrets the steps announced by Pakistan yesterday and would urge that country to review them so that normal channels of communications are preserved,” the statement said.
The earlier provisions of Article 370 denied developmental opportunities to Kashmir , and annulling the special status would ensure an end to the “socio-economic discrimination and ensure an upswing in economic activity and improve the livelihood prospects of all people of Jammu and Kashmir,” it said.
Pakistan’s National Security Committee (NSC) on Wednesday declared that it was downgrading diplomatic relation with India and froze trade ties in response to India ending the special status to Kashmir.
Following the host country’s order, Indian envoy Ajay Bisaria left Islamabad for Delhi on Thursday afternoon. Besides ordering his return, the NSC also declared that all bilateral arrangements with India would be reviewed.
In response, India described Article 370 as a temporary provision and that the removal of the same would lead to improvement of social and economic indicators in the Kashmiri society.
“The recent developments pertaining to Article 370 are entirely the 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,” said the MEA statement.
