Pakistan downgraded ties with India and suspended trade after the Indian government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said that Pakistan will not restore diplomatic ties with India until New Delhi withdraws its decision to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
India on August 5, 2019 abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and bifurcated it into two union territories.
Addressing the National Assembly, Khan said, “I want to make it clear that diplomatic relations with India will not be restored unless it revokes the illegal steps of 5 August 2019.” Khan said that “the whole of Pakistan stands with its Kashmiri brothers and sisters”.
His statement comes amid reports of back-channel contacts between the two sides that led to a ceasefire along the Line of Control in February, but no further movement to normalize relations has been reported.
Pakistan downgraded ties with India and suspended trade after the Indian government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
India has said that the issue related to Article 370 of the Indian Constitution is completely an internal matter of the country.
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India has also made it clear to Pakistan that it wants normal neighborly relations with Islamabad in an environment free from terror, hostility and violence.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office on Wednesday categorically rejected an alleged statement by the Union Minister of State for Home Kishan Reddy Regarding the recent drone attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
Two explosives-laden drones crashed at the Indian Air Force station at the Jammu airport in the early hours of Sunday, perhaps the first time that suspected Pakistan-based terrorists have used unmanned aerial vehicles in an attack.
Reddy had reportedly said that Pakistan’s role in the attack could not be ruled out.
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