Pakistan ‘not looking at military action’ over India’s Kashmir moves – FM

Pakistan is not considering a military response to India’s decision to scrap a decades-old constitutional provision that had ensured autonomous status for parts of contested Kashmir.

At a news conference on Thursday, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Islamabad still reserved the right to respond. “We're not looking at a military option,” Qureshi said, but added: “Don’t we reserve a right to respond in case of any aggression?”

Pakistan said on Wednesday it was downgrading diplomatic relations with India as tensions continue to mount over the status of the restive region. The government expelled an Indian envoy and recalled its own ambassador from the neighboring country over New Delhi’s moves. 

It also said it would bring the issue of India’s “unilateral” and “illegal” decision to the United Nations Security Council. Pakistan also said, on Thursday, that it was suspending the Samjhauta Express rail service linking it to India.

India’s Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday that the country would “go on to further integrate Jammu and Kashmir to India for many generations ahead” and hailed the revoking of its autonomous status as a “historic” moment. Earlier, New Delhi said it had thwarted an “infiltration” attempt by Pakistani militants in the region.

Kashmir has been split since the British partition of India in 1947, but both Pakistan and India claim the region in full and have fought two wars over the territory. Article 370 had allowed Indian-administered Kashmir to make its own laws and retain autonomy in many matters.

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