Pakistan say will exercise all options to counter 'illegal' scrapping of Article 370

Reacting to India’s decision to revoke Article 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan on Monday said that ‘it will exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps.’ “As the party to this international dispute, Pakistan will exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps. Pakistan reaffirms its abiding commitment to the Kashmir cause,” reads a statement issued by Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the move has resurrected Kashmir problem.

"The move to abolish Article 35A has left India's so-called democratic face open to the world. The Kashmir leadership does not agree with India's decision. India has resurrected the Kashmir problem with its decison," Mehmood Qureshi said. 

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Earlier, the government revoked Article 370 which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and proposed that the state be bifurcated into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Meeting a long-held promise of the BJP, Union Home Minister Amit Shah moved a resolution in the Rajya Sabha that Article 370, which allowed Jammu and Kashmir to have its own Constitution, will no longer be applicable.

"The president on the recommendation of Parliament is pleased to declare as from 5th of August 2019, all clauses of the said Article 370 shall cease to be operative... ," stated the resolution moved by the Home minister.

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Shah also moved a bill proposing bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir division and Ladakh.

Shah, who introduced the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation bill, said the union territory in Ladakh will have no legislature like Chandigarh. The other union territory of Jammu and Kashmir will have a legislature like Delhi and Puducherry.

The government's move on Article 370, said senior party leader Arun Jaitley, is a monumental decision towards national integration.

His party colleague Ram Madhav also hailed the decision.