Pakistan minister Fawad Chaudhry demanded on Wednesday that Islamabad cut off diplomatic ties with New Delhi following India’s decision to revoke special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.

“If no decision is accepted, why is the Indian envoy here?” Chaudhry asked during a joint session of Parliament, according to Geo News. “The Indian envoy is a nice man but he is a representative of a fascist government.”

The Pakistani government had on Tuesday summoned Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria to the Foreign Office and conveyed a “strong demarche on the announcements made and actions taken” by the Indian government.

Advertisement

“If there is no diplomacy why is money being spent on diplomats?” Chaudhry said. “We should break diplomatic ties with India.”

Chaudhry urged the Pakistan National Assembly not to let Kashmir become Palestine. “We cannot stand this. We cannot live with this humiliation. If it comes to a fight we will fight,” he said.

Chaudhry also demanded intervention of the international community in the matter. “If a war does happen, every government will feel the severity of it because wars are not fought for winning or losing but for respect and honour,” he claimed.

Advertisement

“We have fought three wars on Kashmir before, we should be ready for peace and war,” the minister added. “We should not send a weak message from this Parliament to India.”

Chaudhry said Pakistan should be ready to fight for Kashmir. “The message from this Parliament should be that we fought for Kashmir before and we will fight for Kashmir again,” he asserted.

The bill to revoke separate status for Jammu and Kashmir was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Monday and the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. On Monday, Pakistan said that Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory that is internationally recognised, adding that they “would exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps”.