Pakistan downgrades India ties as China slams New Delhi over Kashmir

Pakistan has announced that it will expel the Indian envoy and suspend trade in a deepening row over New Delhi's move to tighten its grip on disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

"We will call back our ambassador from Delhi and send back their" envoy, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced in televised comments Wednesday.

The Pakistani government earlier released a statement declaring that Islamabad would suspend trade with India and review its bilateral ties with Delhi.

"Prime Minister Imran Khan today chaired meeting of the National Security Committee" to discuss the "unilateral and illegal actions by the Indian government" in Kashmir, the statement said.

Khan "directed that all diplomatic channels be activated to expose brutal Indian racist regime, design and human rights violations," the statement added.

The Pakistani premier also called on the military to continue its "vigilance."

Khan said in an address  to the Pakistani parliament on Tuesday that he was weighing taking the matter to the United Nations Security Council.

“We will fight it at every forum. We’re thinking how we can take it to International Court (of Justice) ... to the United Nations Security Council,” Prime Minister Imran Khan told Pakistan’s parliament.

Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa expressed support for the people of Kashmir after a meeting with top commanders in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Tuesday.

“Pakistan Army firmly stands by the Kashmiris in their just struggle to the very end,” Bajwa said. “We are prepared and shall go to any extent to fulfill our obligations in this regard.”

Indian plan to change the status of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir has also faced fierce opposition from China.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying in a recent statement said it opposed India’s decision to revoke Kashmir’s special status and that New Delhi needed to be cautious on border issues.

“India’s action is unacceptable and would not have any legal effect,” she said

China urged India to strictly abide by the agreements reached by both countries in order to avoid any actions that would further complicate boundary issues, Hua noted.

She reiterated that India’s claim over Ladakh, as part of Kashmir, involved Chinese land.

SS