Pakistan Expels Indian Ambassador as Kashmir Dispute Escalates
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Pakistan said it would expel India’s ambassador and suspend bilateral trade with its arch-rival after New Delhi stripped its portion of the contested Kashmir region of special status.
Neighbors China and Pakistan, which both claim parts of Kashmir, have voiced fierce opposition to India’s removal of a constitutional provision that had allowed the country’s only Muslim-majority state to make its own laws.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have twice waged war over Kashmir and in February engaged in an aerial clash. India said the special status had hindered Kashmir’s development and it wanted to fully integrate the region with the rest of the country.
Moin-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s newly appointed ambassador to India, has yet to take up his post but will now not move to New Delhi, while Indian Ambassador Ajay Bisaria will be expelled, Islamabad said in a statement on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
