Ready to review decision against India if New Delhi agrees to reconsider its actions on Kashmir: Pak

Pakistan is ready to review its decision against India, including downgrading of diplomatic ties, if New Delhi agreed to reconsider its actions on Kashmir, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Thursday.

Qureshi's remarks came a day after Pakistan expelled the Indian High Commissioner and also announced that it will review all "bilateral arrangements" with India, which urged Islamabad to reconsider its decision.

"Are they (India) ready to review their decisions? If they do, we can also review our decisions. Review will be on both sides. That is what Simla (agreement) says," Qureshi told reporters.

The Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi on Thursday said India regretted the steps announced by Pakistan on Wednesday and asserted that its decision on Jammu and Kashmir is an internal affair.

India on Monday revoked Article 370 of the Constitution removing special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and has also bifurcated the state into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Qureshi said that Pakistan has decided to go back to the UN Security Council to challenge the Indian decision.

"Pakistan is not looking at the military option. We are rather looking at political, diplomatic, and legal options to deal with the prevailing situation," he said.

He also replied in the affirmative when asked about reducing the strength of diplomatic staff and restricting their movement. However, he did not elaborate on the issue as to how they will do it.

He also said Pakistan will legally examine the Simla agreement.

The Simla agreement signed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and then Pakistan President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in July 1972 was a comprehensive blue print for good neighbourly relations between India and Pakistan.

The bilateral agreements with India would be reviewed by the special committee set up by the Prime Minister, he said. However, he did not specify which of the agreements would be reviewed.

Rejecting India's assertion that Kashmir was its internal matter, Qureshi referred to India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and said, "Nehru announced on 14 occasions" that "future of Kashmir will be decided by the goodwill and pleasure of Kashmiri people."
Responding to a question about re-routing of a few routes as reported by the media, he said: "Not a single route has been re-routed after the latest tension between the two countries."