Pakistan downgrades ties with India, suspends trade

The row between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir has deepened with Pakistan's announcement that it was expelling India's top diplomat and suspending trade, report agencies.

Indian-administered Kashmir has been on lockdown since the Indian government decided on Monday to strip the region of its special constitutional status.

Telephone networks and the internet were cut off on Sunday evening.

Tens of thousands of troops have been patrolling the streets.

A report from Srinagar adds: A protester died after being chased by police and more than 100 people were arrested during a curfew in Kashmir's main city after the restive region's autonomy was scrapped by India, officials said Wednesday.

The death was confirmed by police after the government passed a presidential decree on Monday stripping the Muslim-majority state of its longstanding semi-autonomous privileges.

Despite a paralysing curfew imposed to head off unrest, sporadic protests have been reported by residents in the main city, Srinagar.

A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that in one incident a youth being chased by police "jumped into the Jhelum river and died".

The incident happened in Srinagar's old town which has become a hotbed of anti-India protests during the three-decade insurgency in Kashmir that has left tens of thousands dead.

A source told AFP that at least six people have been admitted to hospital in Srinagar with gunshot wounds and other injuries from protests.

More than 100 people, included political leaders and activists, have been arrested as part of the lockdown for being a threat to the peace in the Himalayan valley, officials told the Press Trust of India.

Former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, along with regional party leader Sajad Lone, were placed under house arrest at the weekend and then reportedly taken to a guesthouse by authorities.

The reports came as footage of national security adviser Ajit Doval eating and speaking to locals on the streets of Srinagar was shown on Indian television news channels on Wednesday.

Doval reportedly met with state governor Satya Pal Malik on Tuesday to discuss the security situation.

Indian police insist that Kashmir, which is also claimed by Pakistan, has been mainly peaceful since the curfew was imposed at midnight Sunday.

Officials told PTI the only disturbances were "very few incidents of stone-pelting".

Meanwhile, the Chinese government has criticized India's decision to change the status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. In a statement released on Tuesday, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was opposed to the move because Beijing's claims to part of the disputed territory were included in the Indian-administered region.

"China is always opposed to India's inclusion of the Chinese territory in the western sector of the China-India boundary into its administrative jurisdiction," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a statement.

In a separate statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed concern about the general regional situation in Kashmir. "China is seriously concerned about the current situation in Jammu Kashmir," Hua noted.

India and Pakistan "should refrain from taking actions that will unilaterally change the status quo and escalate tensions." She added that China calls "on both India and Pakistan to peacefully resolve the relevant disputes through dialogue and consultation and safeguard peace and stability in the region."

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has expressed "deep concern" over the recent developments in the Indian-administered Kashmir, mainly the revocation of special status to the disputed Himalayan valley by New Delhi.

In a statement at an emergency meeting of the organization's Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir in Jeddah on Tuesday, the OIC Secretary General, Dr. Yousef bin Ahmed Al-Othaimeen, reaffirmed the OIC's full support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their just struggle to achieve their legitimate rights, in particular the right to self-determination.

The statement was read by Ambassador Samir Bakr Diab, Assistant Secretary General, who chaired the meeting while representing the OIC Secretary General, said a statement from Pakistan's Foreign Ministry.

The Contact Group on Jammu & Kashmir was formed in 1994 to coordinate policy of the OIC on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Azerbaijan, Niger, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are its members.

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who led the Pakistan delegation, apprised the participants of the "Indian attempt to strengthen its illegitimate occupation of IOK [Indian Occupied Kashmir]", the statement added.

"Other members of the Contact Group also made statements condemning the illegal Indian actions and expressing deep concern over the developments while reiterating their continued support for the people of Jammu and Kashmir", it said and added "They called for a peaceful resolution of the dispute in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people".

The Contact Group reaffirmed that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized dispute, pending on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council.

The Contact Group urged India again to allow access to the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) and other international rights bodies on the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir in order to independently verify the gross and blatant human rights violations, the statement said.

Since 1947, Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed special provisions to enact its own laws. The provision also protected its citizenship law that disallowed outsiders to settle and own land in the territory.