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Pakistan to take dispute with India over Kashmir to International Court of Justice
Islamabad said on Tuesday it would take its dispute with India over Kashmir to the International Court of Justice. The move comes after New Delhi revoked the special status of its part of the region earlier this month.
Pakistan reacted with fury to that decision, cutting trade and transport links and expelling India’s ambassador. “We have decided to take the Kashmir case to the International Court of Justice,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told ARY News TV on Tuesday. “The decision was taken after considering all legal aspects.”
The case would center on alleged human rights violations by India in the Muslim-majority Kashmir, Reuters quoted Qureshi as saying. Both countries claim the region in full but rule in part. India denies committing human rights violations in Kashmir.
A decision by the court would be advisory only, but if both countries agreed before-hand, the ruling would become binding.
A major exchange of fire has erupted along the contested Kashmir border separating India and Pakistan known as the Line of Control (LoC). Pakistan's army says at lease three Pakistani and five Indian soldiers were killed during the cross-border fighting on Thursday.
Cancellation on August 5 this year of the fundamental provisions of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution became one of the most important recent political events in the Indo-Pacific Region. It de facto means the elimination of the special status of the State of Jammu and Kashmir with mainly Muslim population (about 70%). From now on, the state is divided into two allied territories under the full control of the central government.
Pakistan must “accept reality” and stop poking its nose in the internal matters of other nations, New Delhi has said. The rebuke comes amid growing tensions over the disputed Kashmir territory. A spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs condemned Islamabad after it suspended the last rail line linking the two countries.
Early Monday morning, the Indian government announced a change to its constitution, revoking the autonomy of the disputed northern state of Jammu and Kashmir and potentially setting the stage for a major new conflict. The change opens the door to a situation similar to Chinese policy in Tibet and Xinjiang and Israeli policy in the West Bank, allowing the Indian government to move huge numbers of settlers into Kashmir, the country’s only Muslim-majority region, thereby forcibly transforming its demographics.
