Pakistan to take Kashmir dispute with India to World Court

Pakistan's new Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi listens during a news conference at the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad, Pakistan on August 20, 2018. (REUTERS File Photo)

ISLAMABAD, August 20 (Reuters): Pakistan said on Tuesday it would take its dispute with India over Kashmir to the International Court of Justice, after New Delhi revoked the special status of its part of the region earlier this month.

Islamabad reacted with fury to that decision, cutting trade and transport links and expelling India's ambassador.

"We have decided to take the Kashmir case to the International Court of Justice," Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, told ARY News TV on Tuesday. "The decision was taken after considering all legal aspects."

The case would centre on alleged human rights violations by India in Muslim-majority Kashmir, which both countries claim in full but rule in part, Qureshi said.

A decision by the court would advisory only. However, if both countries agreed before-hand, the ruling would become binding.

A spokesman for India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. India denies committing human rights violations in Kashmir.