Pakistan retaliates as India cuts off Kashmir autonomy
NEW DELHI — Pakistan announced on Wednesday that it would halt trade with India and expel the country’s top diplomat in Islamabad in retaliation for India’s decision to unilaterally eliminate the autonomy of Kashmir.
The Pakistani government, which also claims the restive region of Kashmir, said it would recall its own chief diplomat based in New Delhi.
A statement from a national security committee headed by the Pakistani prime minister, Imran Khan, said the changes would be put in place because of “illegal actions” by the Indian government regarding Kashmir, which has a Muslim majority.
Khan denounced Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, accusing his government of promoting “an ideology that puts Hindus above all other religions and seeks to establish a state that represses all other religious groups.”
In addition to ending bilateral trade, which has been valued at several billion dollars annually, and downgrading diplomatic ties, Pakistani officials threatened to close the country’s airspace to Indian aircraft. The statement said all bilateral agreements would also be reviewed.
The call for action comes after Amit Shah, the Indian home minister, announced on Monday that the Indian government was revoking Kashmir’s special status, which served as a foundation formost of the contested region’s joining India as an autonomous area more than 70 years ago.
The Indian Parliament overwhelmingly approveda bill this week that split the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir into two federal territories. The move puts Kashmir under tighter control of the central government.
Before the government announced the end of the special status, Kashmiri voices were almost completely silenced. Internet connections, mobile service and landlineswere cut. Thousands of additional Indian troops were deployed in the region, and tourists were evacuated.
In Srinagar, Kashmir’s biggest city, the few people who were able to transmit messages said that they were still terrified and that stores were closed and streets empty. Indian soldiers were patrolling barricaded intersections, and curfew passes were required.
Iltija Javed, the daughter of a prominent Kashmiri politician andone of the few peoplewho has managed to send updates, said the city was under a “complete information blackout” and expressed concern that the situation would only get worse.