India has chosen dangerous path: Nafees Zakaria

LONDON: Pakistan High Commission to the United Kingdom (UK) Mohammad Nafees Zakaria on Friday said that India by revoking the special status to Indian occupied Kashmir had chosen a dangerous path.

In an interview with a British news channel ITV News, he strongly condemned the Indian government's action and sent a grave warning. "They (Indians) have chosen a very dangerous path."

He said, "This is a time when this matter can be resolved amicably," and added, it was a time when India needed admonishment, condemnation and counselling, with what they were doing at the moment.

According to ITV News, people in Indian held Kashmir were being held up in homes as the occupied Kashmir was day under a tight security lockdown.

Locals had been surrounded by armed Indian occupation forces and under the communications blackout, after the Indian government revoked Indian occupied Kashmir special status, stripping residence of long held hereditary rights to jobs, scholarships and landownerships.

The news channel reported "tensions between India and Pakistan, which also claims the divided Himalayan region have soared".

Security forces had arrested 500 people in Indian occupied Kashmir region, while thousands of migrants workers had been sent home, it added.