India urges Pakistan to review decision downgrading diplomatic ties over Kashmir move

India on Thursday asked Pakistan to review its decision to downgrade diplomatic ties after its decisions on Kashmir. This comes a day after Pakistan expelled the Indian envoy and suspended bilateral trade. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement said, “we have seen reports that Pakistan has decided to take certain unilateral actions in respect to its bilateral relations with India. This includes the downgrading of our diplomatic relations. The Government of India regrets the steps announced by Pakistan yesterday and would urge that country to review them so that normal channels for diplomatic communications are preserved.”

"The recent developments pertaining to Article 370 are entirely the internal affair of India.  The Constitution of India was, is and will always be a sovereign matter. Seeking to interfere in that jurisdiction by invoking an alarmist vision of the region will never succeed," MEA said.

The statement added that "recent decisions by the government and parliament of India are driven by a commitment to extend to Jammu and Kashmir opportunities for development that were earlier denied by a temporary provision in the Constitution.  Its impact would also result in the removal of gender and socio-economic discrimination.  It is also expected to result in an upswing of economic activity and improvement in the livelihood prospects of all people of Jammu and Kashmir."

India on Tuesday removed part of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that gave Jammu and Kashmir a significant autonomy. The central government also divided the state in two Union Territories (UTs) - Jammu and Kashmir with its own legislature and Ladakh with legislature.