Pakistan's decision to downgrade diplomatic ties very short-sighted: Salman Khurshid

Senior Congress leader and former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid on August 7 called Pakistan's decision to downgrade diplomatic ties with India "very short-sighted" and said it would not affect India.

"In these times it is important to maintain bilateral ties and the decision (of Pakistan) is very short sighted and it is not going to make any difference to India," Khurshid told reporters on the sidelines of release of book India's Lost Frontier- The story of North West Frontier Province of Pakistan.

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Pakistan on August 7 expelled Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria, minutes after it decided to downgrade the diplomatic ties with India, alleging that New Delhi's move to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was "unilateral and illegal".

India on August 5 revoked provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution to withdraw the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

T C A Raghavan, a former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, who was also present at the book launch said the decision would not make much difference to India as the bilateral trade has not been much. 

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