Pakistan asks India to withdraw its envoy

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - An irate Pakistan on Wednesday asked India to withdraw its High Commissioner hours after Islamabad announced to downgrade its diplomatic ties with New Delhi, an official statement said.

The move came days after India announced to scrap special status to the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region, a move that has further fueled the already strained tensions between the two nuclear rivals.

“Pursuant to the decision of the National Security Committee today, the Government of India has been told to withdraw its High Commissioner to Pakistan,” said a statement from the foreign ministry.

Pakistan also informed India that Islamabad would not be sending its High Commissioner-designate to New Delhi, the statement said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pakistan announced that it would downgrade diplomatic relations and suspend bilateral trade with India over mounting tension on the status of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The decision taken in a meeting of the country's National Security Committee, the top forum of civil and military leaders, which is chaired by premier Imran Khan, according to a statement from the Prime Ministry.

The committee also decided to review "bilateral arrangements" as Islamabad would take the Kashmir issue to UN bodies, including the Security Council, the statement added.

Pakistan also observed this year's Independence Day -- Aug. 14 -- in solidarity with "brave Kashmiris and their just struggle for their right of self-determination".

Khan directed the country's armed forces to continue vigilance, said the statement, adding that Khan directed for all diplomatic channels be activated to expose the "brutal Indian racist regime" for its "human rights violations."

The disputed Jammu and Kashmir, since 1947, enjoyed special provisions, to enact its own laws. The provision also protected its citizenship law that disallowed outsiders to settle and own land in the territory.

The Himalayan region is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.