\'Short-sighted move\': India slams Pak\'s decision to cancel trade, recall envoy

New Delhi: Various Indian diplomats and leaders on Wednesday responded to Pakistan’s move to cancel bilateral trade with Delhi and recall its envoy, calling it “short-sighted”.

Former Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid described the move as "short-sighted".

“They are the only ones who will suffer losses. But if they want to take a symbolic decision, it's their choice,” Khurshid added.

On Wednesday, Pakistan announced that it was expelling Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria and suspending bilateral trade. The statement came a day after the Indian government repealed Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said, “Pakistan’s cancellation of bilateral trade could adversely affect the proposed construction of the Kartarpur corridor on the backburner.” He described Pakistan’s reaction as a "kneejerk" one and uncalled for.

“Kashmir was an internal matter for India, which was in its rights to take any decision with regard to the region and Islamabad shouldn't have used it as an excuse to undermine its diplomatic relations with India”, Singh added.

Singh hoped these developments would not affect the Kartarpur corridor and Pakistan would not hurt Sikh sentiments by putting the much-awaited corridor on hold.

TCA Raghavan, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, said that trade between India and Pakistan had never been of a large volume.

BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav said that Pakistan had no locus standi on this issue. “The Indian Parliament had taken a decision about Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and that’s an internal matter,” he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a crucial meeting of the National Security Committee, which was attended by top civil and military leadership. The committee decided to suspend the bilateral trade and review "bilateral arrangements". The Pakistani government said the decision was taken "arising out of unilateral and illegal actions" by India, the situation inside Jammu and Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LoC).

(With inputs from agencies)