Pakistan Can’t Take Kashmir Issue To ICJ, Government Committee Tells Imran Khan

Days after Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Islamabad will take Kashmir issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a committee formed by the Law Ministry on Friday told Imran Khan that the government cannot take it to ICJ.

The recommendation by the committee came after the Pakistan government had asked the law ministry to brief over the criteria of moving ICJ over Kashmir conflict.

Pakistan had decided to take the issue to ICJ days after rare closed-door consultations on Kashmir by the UN Security Council ended without any outcome, dealing a huge snub to Islamabad and its all-weather ally China who have been trying to internationalise the issue.

An overwhelming majority in the UN Security Council stressed Kashmir is a bilateral matter between New Delhi and Islamabad.

"An in-principle decision has been taken to take the issue of Kashmir to the International Court of Justice," Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told ARY News TV.

Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan told a rare joint sitting of Pakistan's Parliament that he will raise the Kashmir issue at every forum including the UN Security Council and also take the matter to the ICJ.

It should be noted that Pakistan has been trying to internationalise Modi-led government’s decision to scrap Article 370 of the Indian Constitution which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after India abrogated provisions of Article 370 and bifurcated it into two Union Territories, evoking strong reactions from Pakistan.

India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was an internal matter and also advised Pakistan to accept the reality.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Imran Khan had told a rare joint sitting of Pakistan's Parliament that he will raise the Kashmir issue at every forum 
• An overwhelming majority in the UN Security Council stressed Kashmir is a bilateral matter between New Delhi and Islamabad.
• Pakistan has been trying to internationalise Modi-led government’s decision to scrap Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.