ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday that the country will raise its voice on all international forums, including the United Nations Security Council and International Criminal Court, challenging India’s recent actions against Kashmir.
Addressing the joint session of the Parliament, Khan said that he feared India may resort to “ethnic cleansing” in disputed Kashmir valley following revocation of its special status.
He said the move, which was a violation of the Indian constitution itself, was in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “racist ideology” that would have “global repercussions.”
“The Indian government violated its own constitution to promote its ideology and scrapped occupied Kashmir’s special status,” said Khan.
He added that Islamabad wanted better relations with its neighbors but Pakistan army would respond to any aggression from India’s side.
He said that Pakistan had strongly conveyed to India that it was not involved in Pulwama attack and would never let its soil be used for terrorist activities but Modi government built on “war hysteria” to win the elections at home encashing anti-Pakistan sentiment.
Khan said that India was all out to crush the freedom struggle in Kashmir with force and had turned the valley into a graveyard.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was leading the country’s delegation at the OIC meeting on Jammu and Kashmir hosted in Jeddah today, told Arab News that “Pakistan will use all diplomatic, legal and political options against the unilateral and unjust Indian decision of revoking special constitutional status of Indian occupied Kashmir.”
He said that the entire Kashmiri diaspora is in a state of sheer anguish. “The world did not only condemn the ruthlessly imposed decision by India on Kashmiri people but it rejected it out-rightly,” he added.
A day after the implementation of a special decree that aims to change the disputed region’s Muslim-majority demographics, the Kashmir issue has emerged as a major flashpoint for the international community. The restive valley remained under a complete lockdown with huge presence of security forces and blackout through phone and Internet service suspension.
Qureshi said, “Today, the whole world is questioning India’s credibility.”
To substantiate his point, he referred to voices raised from inside India against this move. “Indian legal experts, themselves, are saying the decision is unlawful and can be a big challenge for its government. It will create chaos within India.”
He said that Pakistan had already initiated efforts to lobby world powers. “Pakistan has not only taken up the issue with United States but also has started using its diplomatic contacts with China, Russia and other Powers of the world.”
He said an American delegation headed by US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, Alice Wells, is already in Pakistan and that the foreign office has taken up the issue with the US delegation.
He said that US President Trump already offered to mediate on Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India which India unfortunately rejected.
“Now, Pakistan will use United Nations Security Council as well as other humanitarian and legal ways to take up the volatile issue of Kashmir to save the Kashmiri brothers,” Qureshi added. “Our legal experts are looking into all the possible dimensions to use the International Court of Justice or other legal platforms,” he said.
Qureshi highlighted that India played a “spoiler” just when the Afghan peace process was making a smooth headway, which will likely put the crucial phase of reaching the Afghan peace deal “on back-burner.” He said, “Russia, China, Central Asia, and Pakistan all had the shared objective of peace and prosperity in Afghanistan.”
Pakistan’s former foreign secretary and envoy to India, Salman Bashir termed India’s decision a “big mistake.”
“Pakistan has many forums to take up the recent unacceptable, illegal decision about Indian-administered Kashmir. Foreign minister has already written a letter to the UNSC in which the Indian barbarism and brutalities are mentioned. The demographic changes which India is trying to bring through this move are also mentioned.”
Bashir added that “Pakistan can also take this matter up with the International Committee of Red Cross in Geneva as it is a case of armed occupation of a territory.”
But Pakistan’s former attorney general and an international law expert, Ashtar Ausaf Ali, told Arab News that Pakistan cannot move the ICJ in this case as it does not involve violation of a treaty. It was a bilateral agreement and the ICJ is not the right forum for this case, he said.
“The presidential decree is not the way to bring in a change so it can be challenged in any Indian court including their Supreme Court,” said Ali.
Pakistan warns Indian move on Kashmir will have 'global repercussions'
Pakistan warns Indian move on Kashmir will have 'global repercussions'
- Islamabad will move international and humanitarian forums seeking help for Kashmiri people
- India may resort to "ethnic cleansing" in disputed Kashmir, PM Khan says
Pakistan’s Mahnoor Omer named among TIME’s ‘Women of the Year’ for 2026
- Omer moved a Pakistani court against the so-called ‘period tax’ in Sept. 2025 which has since sparked a national debate
- Taxes on sanitary pads in Pakistan can add up to 40 percent to retail price, UNICEF says only around 12 percent women use such products
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani women’s rights activist Mahnoor Omer, who fought against taxes on menstrual products, has been named among the TIME magazine’s ‘Women of the Year’ for 2026.
Omer’s efforts have been recognized alongside 16 activists, artists, athletes and businesswomen in the TIME’s Women of the Year 2026 list, including Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Chloe Zhao.
Dissatisfied with the efforts to educate Pakistani girls about sexual violence, Omer founded the Noor Foundation at the age of 14 and held her own workshops with village girls about everything from climate change to menstruation, according to the TIME magazine.
Two years later, a conversation with a domestic worker about the price of pads made her realize that not everyone could afford these essentials. She moved a court against the so-called “period tax” in Sept. 2025 and the case has sparked a national debate on the subject, considered a taboo by many in Pakistan, since its first hearing late last year.
“A decade and one law degree after her interest in activism was sparked, Omer, now 25, is putting her passion and expertise to work in the name of gender equity,” TIME wrote about Omer on its website.
Taxes imposed on sanitary products in Pakistan can add up to 40 percent to the retail price. UNICEF estimates just 12 percent of women in the country use commercially produced pads or tampons. The alternative, using cloth, risks health impacts including rashes and infections, and can make it impossible for girls to attend school while menstruating.
Omer’s suit, which awaits the government response, has sparked a national discussion. She says she spoke about menstruation to her father and male cousins, who thanked her for standing up for their daughters.
The 25-year-old, who is currently enrolled in a master’s degree in gender, peace, and security at the London School of Economics, sees this case as just the first of many.
“I’m not free until every woman is free,” she was quoted as saying by TIME. “I want to leave no stones unturned in terms of what I can do with the next few decades, as a lawyer for the women in my country and gender minorities in general.”
