Pakistan says will move to UN Security Council against India's Kashmir move

Pakistan on Saturday said that it has decided to move the United Nations Security Council with the help of China against India's move to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and divide the state into two Union Territories. "I have shared with China that the Pakistan government has decided to take this issue to UN Security Council. We will be needing China's help there," Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said during a press conference on Saturday.

"China has assured full support to Pakistan," Qureshi said, adding that Islamabad has also planned to approach Indonesia and Poland, both non-permanent members the security council, for thier support.

Pakistan has been opposing India's move to remove some provisions of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that gave Jammu and Kashmir a significant automony for decades and devide the state into two Union Territories. Pakistan, which illegaly occupied a part of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 when the state's ruler decided to join India after Independence, had vowed to exercise "all possible options" to counter India's "illegal" and "unilateral" step.

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On Wednesday, the neighbouring country had announced to downgrade diplomatic ties with India and suspended bilateral trade. At the National Security Committee meeting, chaired by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, it was also decided to recall Pakistani High Commissioner to New Delhi and send back Indian Envoy in Islamabad.

Continuing its pushback against India's decision, Pakistan had also shut down bi-weekly Samjhauta Express train service connecting Lahore and New Delhi and Thar Express that runs from Jodhpur to Lahore. India, however, downplayed Pakistani actions and asked it to accept the reality and stop interferring in New Delhi's internal matters.