Pakistani media reacts to India's decision to end Jammu and Kashmir's Special Status
The media in Pakistan reacted aggressively to India's decision to scrap the Article 370 that gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir. India's Home Minister Amit Shah proposed to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution and said the state will be split into two Union Territories: Jammu and Kashmir with an Assembly and Ladakh without one.
The Indian government’s decision created a furore in neighbouring Pakistan.
Reacting to this development, an article in The News International - Pakistan’s largest English language newspaper - reported that Pakistan may move the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over India's decision and claimed the move to be in defiance of the UNSC's resolution.
"Pakistan would knock the doors of International Court of Justice (ICJ) besides taking other steps if India decides to quash the special status of Indian Held Kashmir (IHK) since it would be defeating the position of the United Nations (UN) about the Kashmir dispute and blatant defiance of the UN Security Council’s resolution which were accepted by India as well," the report said.
The report, quoting sources, said that Pakistan's foreign office will take legal help on the issue and will submit "detailed recommendations to the government".
Meanwhile, The Tribune which is a major English-language daily newspaper, warned that India's decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir will "violate international law".
The report in The Tribune quoted various legal experts in Pakistan.
"Any attempt by India to change the existing constitutional arrangement of Indian occupied Kashmir will be a violation of international law and UN-mandated obligations," The Tribune quoted international law expert Ahmer Bilal Soofi as saying.
"If Indian held Kashmir is divided into states, India will be in a clear violation of the UN Resolutions. Legally, a disputed territory cannot be divided into sub territories. As per law, it won’t change the legal status of the disputed land," said the report quoting Pakistan's former ambassador to France Ghalib Iqbal.
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