Pakistan should review its Wednesday decision to downgrade ties with India and suspend trade, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday after Islamabad declared that the Indian envoy would be asked to return. The Pakistani actions were aimed at presenting an “alarmist picture to the world.”

An MEA statement maintained that the ending of special status to Jammu and Kashmir was an internal affair of India and was aimed at bringing developmental opportunities to the people there. Pakistan exploited the lack of developmental opportunities to generate disaffections and “to justify its cross-border terrorism.”

“The Government of India regrets the steps announced by Pakistan yesterday and would urge that country to review them so that normal channels of communications are preserved,” it said.

The earlier provisions of Article 370 denied developmental opportunities to Kashmir and annulling the special status would ensure an end to the “socio-economic discrimination and ensure an upswing in economic activity and improve the livelihood prospects of all people of Jammu and Kashmir,” it said.

“The recent developments pertaining to Article 370 are entirely the internal affair of India. The Constitution of India was, is and will always be a sovereign matter. Seeking to interfere in that jurisdiction by invoking an alarmist vision of the region will never succeed,” said the statement.