Islamabad – Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed Tuesday to challengeat the UN security council India’s decision to strip Kashmir of its specialautonomy, and demanded action from the international community as tensionssoared between the nuclear-armed rivals, reports AFP.
Khan gave a forceful rebuke of Prime Minister Narenda Modi’s decisionMonday to scrap the special status granted to the Indian-ruled part ofKashmir from India’s constitution in front of a joint-session of parliamentin Islamabad.
“I want to make it clear that we will fight this issue on every forum,(including) at the UN security council,” said Khan, who also promised toalso raise the issue with heads of state and take the matter to theInternational Criminal Court.
Khan demanded action from the global community as he accused Modi ofblatantly violating international law in pursuit of an anti-Muslim agendain India.
“If the world does not act today… (if) the developed world does notuphold its own laws, then things will go to a place that we will not beresponsible for,” Khan added.
The prime minister’s remarks came shortly after Pakistan’s militaryannounced it “firmly stands” by Kashmiris following a meeting by the army’stop commanders in the garrison city of Rawalpindi to discuss the move byIndia, which is also set to exacerbate the long-running bloody rebellion inKashmir.
“Pakistan Army firmly stands by the Kashmiris in their just struggle to thevery end. We are prepared and shall go to any extent to fulfil ourobligations in this regard,” General Qamar Javed Bajwa said, in a tweetsent by a military spokesman after the meeting.
Spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said commanders “fully supported” thecivilian government’s rejection of India’s move.
“Pakistan never recognised the sham Indian efforts to legalise itsoccupation” of the disputed mountainous region, he added.
On Tuesday, an estimated 500 people demonstrated in Muzaffarabad, thelargest city in Pakistani-held Kashmir, with more protests expected inmajor cities across the country.
Pakistani lawmakers also began a session of parliament to discuss apossible response to Delhi’s move.
The breathtaking Himalayan region of Kashmir has been disputed by India andPakistan since independence in 1947. They have fought two of their threewars over the former principality.
Earlier this year they came close to war yet again, after a militant attackin Indian-held Kashmir in February was claimed by a group based inPakistan, igniting tit-for-tat air strikes.
For three decades the Indian-administered part has been in the grip of aninsurgency that has left tens of thousands dead.
Armed Kashmiri rebels and many residents have fought for the Muslimmajority region’s independence or to join neighbour Pakistan.
Ahead of the announcements, tens of thousands of extra Indian troops weredeployed in the territory, and a security lockdown was imposed overnightSunday. All telecommunications have been cut there since.
Editorials and social media in Pakistan were buzzing Tuesday over Modi’sdecision, with the English daily Dawn running a large headline on its frontpage reading: “New Delhi sheds fig leaf, robs held Kashmir of specialstatus”. -APP/AFP