Asia

Pakistan's PM Khan Calls National Security Committee Session to Discuss Kashmir Tensions - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan summoned on Wednesday a session of the National Security Committee (NSC), the second one within a week, following India's move to revoke the special status of its Jammu and Kashmir state, Geo News media outlet reported. 
Sputnik

Pakistan's top military officials will discuss their response strategy to India's move during the meeting, Geo News says. 

Pakistan held an NSC meeting on Sunday to discuss the alleged use of cluster bombs by the Indian Armed Forces along the Line of Control in the disputed region of Kashmir, following New Delhi's decision to boost its forces in Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier in the week, New Delhi revoked Article 370 of the constitution, which had guaranteed Jammu and Kashmir a degree of autonomy for decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that his country intended to discuss the situation at the United Nations.

Pakistan's PM Khan Calls National Security Committee Session to Discuss Kashmir Tensions - Reports

Article 370 of the Indian constitution protected the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, requiring the mandatory approval of most of the laws adopted by the Indian parliament in the local assembly. The Indian government now wants to split the Ladakh region from Jammu and Kashmir and grant it the status of a union territory, which means it would be directly controlled by the federal government. The remainder of the state will become a second union territory. However, the Ladakh region will not have its own legislature, unlike Jammu and Kashmir.

India and Pakistan have contended for the Kashmir region, the southern part of which lies in India's Jammu and Kashmir state, since the end of British rule in 1947. Despite a ceasefire being reached in 2003 following several armed conflicts, instability has continued, leading to the emergence of various extremist groups. Tensions spiked earlier this year when the Indian military conducted airstrikes in the region in response to an attack orchestrated by a terrorist group based on the Pakistani side of Kashmir.

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