Pakistan plans to close its airspace to Indian flights as part of retaliatory measures over New Delhi’s move to strip its portion of Kashmir of autonomy, local media reports say.
Pakistan is also looking to downgrade its relations with India, raise its alert status and is considering more retaliatory measures.
On Monday, India dropped a constitutional provision for the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which has long been a flashpoint in ties with Pakistan, to make its own laws.
Neighbours and nuclear arch-rivals India and Pakistan claim Muslim-majority Kashmir in full but rule it in part.
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s political and military leaders warned India that they would challenge the Hindu-majority nation’s move to strip its portion of disputed Kashmir of its special status at “every forum.”
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government submitted the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill for a vote by the lower house of Parliament a day after the surprise measure was introduced alongside a presidential order.
That order dissolved a constitutional provision, known as Article 370, which gave Kashmiris exclusive hereditary rights and a separate constitution.
“After five years, seeing development in Jammu and Kashmir under the leadership of PM Modi, people of the valley will understand drawbacks of Article 370,” Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said just before the bill was passed.
Pakistan and India have fought two wars over Kashmir since their independence from British rule.
India has locked down the territory with tens of thousands of troops on the streets. Telephone networks and the internet in Kashmir have been cut off since Sunday evening.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan told Parliament on Tuesday night that he feared the Kashmiri people, angered over India’s decision to strip the region of its special status, could attack Indian security forces and that New Delhi could blame Pakistan for it.
“If India attacks us, we will respond,” Mr. Khan said. “We will fight until the last drop of blood.”
