Pakistan is ready for war: Foreign Minister Qureshi

Pakistan is ready for every kind of war, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Monday in the wake of simmering tensions in the region over India's historic move to withdraw the special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing a ceremony here, Qureshi said the world was witnessing that "India had put the regional peace and stability at risk by illegally revoking" the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, ARY News reported.

He added that India could do "anything to divert the world's attention from its atrocities and grave human rights violation" in the region.

Reiterating similar threats over a nuclear war between the two neighbours, Prime Minister Imran Khan while addressing the nation, earlier in the day, said Pakistan will keep fighting for the freedom of Kashmir till the end and will stand by the Kashmiris in any situation.

Khan also cautioned that both the countries were nuclear powers and in case of a war between the two countries, it could have an effect on the entire world.

Qureshi further warned that the entire region would be affected by the war between the two nuclear powers.

The Foreign Minister stressed that they were using diplomatic, political and legal options to resolve the longstanding Kashmir issue and will even raise the issue in the upcoming annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next month.

Khan's address to the nation comes against the backdrop of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan after New Delhi earlier this month abrogated Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir and divided the former state into two Union Territories.

During his Independence Day speech, Khan had told the Legislative Assembly in Pakistan occupied Kashmir that he will become "the brand ambassador for all Kashmiris" and will raise the matter at international forums.

His remarks coincide with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ruling out any scope of third-party intervention in the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan during a bilateral meeting with the United States President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Biarritz, France on Monday.