ISLAMABAD: Protests were held across Pakistan on Monday as the government said it strongly condemned India’s constitutional changes in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
India revoked the special status of Occupied Kashmir in a bid to “fully integrate” its only Muslim-majority state with the rest of the country, its most far-reaching political move on the territory in nearly seven decades.
In Muzaffarabad, dozens of protesters held black flags and burnt car tyres, chanting ‘Down with India’.
“The abolition of the special status of Kashmir will not serve its purpose,” said Zahid Iqbal, 35, a migrant from Indian Occupied Kashmir. “We will fight, and we will fight with more vigour.”
There were also protests in Islamabad and Karachi.
In a statement, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said that it would ‘exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps,’ taken by India.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that it would raise the issue with allies, including the United States.
“We intend to firmly highlight our stance in our meetings with the US delegation visiting Pakistan and with the international community at large,” Qureshi said on Twitter.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said the move “was in clear violation of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions” in the region, according to a statement released after a telephone call with Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Monday evening.
A spokesperson for India’s foreign ministry declined to comment on Islamabad’s statement that the steps were illegal.
Tensions escalated between Islamabad and New Delhi after the February 14 suicide attack in which a young man – a native of Occupied Kashmir – rammed an explosives-laden car into an Indian paramilitary convoy, killing over 40 personnel in Pulwama district.
Pakistan is playing a key role in negotiations between the United States and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and Prime Minister Imran Khan recently returned from a state visit to Washington, where President Donald Trump offered to mediate in the Kashmir dispute.
India has consistently opposed third-party mediation on Occupied Kashmir, considering the issue between the two countries.