Pakistan and India are never on the best of terms, but that seems to be
getting dramatically worse on Wednesday, as Pakistan has greatly downgraded diplomatic ties with India and suspended all bilateral trade in protest over the Indian crackdown in Kashmir.
Beyond cutting billions of dollars in annual trade, Pakistan also expelled the Indian Ambassador as part of the protest. It’s not clear how long that’s going to last, but Pakistan intends to take the matter to the UN Security Council as well.
What is happening in Kashmir is a huge deal internationally, but nowhere
more than in Pakistan, where there is strong support for Kashmir
independence movements, and a lot of resentment over Indian crackdowns.
Pakistan has been seeking international support for trying to guarantee
autonomy of Kashmir, a region that for generations has been guaranteed
legal autonomy under Indian law, but which tends to be the target of
crackdowns by the government, as a Muslim-majority state in
Hindu-dominated India.
Pakistan Expels Indian Ambassador, Suspends Trade Over Kashmir
Pakistan greatly downgrades diplomatic ties
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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