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Pakistan Celebrates Independence Day Amid Tensions With India

Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan warned Wednesday India's
   recent controversial actions in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir
   territory have endangered the regional peace.

   Khan made the statement in connection with his country's Independence
   Day celebrations, more than a week after India unilaterally revoked the
   semi-autonomous status of its portion of the divided Himalayan region.

   The Indian government also has deployed tens of thousands of additional
   troops and placed millions of Kashmiris under an unprecedented security
   lockdown to quell widespread violent reaction. Restrictions, however,
   have since reportedly been eased in parts of the region.

   "Independence Day is an opportunity for great happiness, but today we
   are saddened by the plight of our Kashmiri brothers in occupied Jammu
   and Kashmir who are victims of Indian oppression," Khan said. "I assure
   my Kashmiri brothers that we stand with them," he vowed.

   Khan traveled Wednesday to the Pakistani part of of the disputed
   region, known as Azad Kashmir, to express solidarity with Kashmiris
   living in the Indian-administered.area.

   Islamabad, which controls a part of Kashmir and also claims the region
   in its entirety, has already expelled the Indian high commissioner to
   Pakistan, suspended all bilateral trade and public transport links in
   response to new Delhi's August 5 decision.

   The ensuing developments have significantly escalated tensions between
   India and Pakistan, both armed with nuclear weapons and have twice gone
   to full scale wars over Kashmir.

   On Tuesday, Pakistan asked the United Nations Security Council to meet
   over India's Kashmir-related steps, "in view of the dangerous
   implications." Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi claimed
   Indians have raised border tensions in their bid to divert global
   attention from the Kashmir crackdown.

   "Pakistan will not provoke a conflict. But India should not mistake our
   restraint for weakness," Qureshi wrote in a letter to the Security
   Council while calling for the urgent meeting. He insisted the move by
   India's Hindu nationalist-led government threatens global peace and
   could lead to ethnic cleansing and genocide in Kashmir.

   "If India chooses to resort again to the use of force, Pakistan will be
   obliged to respond, in self defense, with all its capabilities," the
   foreign minister said.

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